February 19, 2006

Great Bridge claims its 16th straight title

By: KYLE TUCKER

CHESAPEAKE - Generally speaking, the Eastern Region wrestling finals were a little anticlimactic. Great Bridge led the next-closest team by 115.5 points before the championship round even began Saturday night at Oscar Smith.

The Wildcats put nine in the finals (two shy of last year's 11) and qualified 12 of their 14 wrestlers for the state tournament ( one less than last year's 13), cruising to a 16th consecutive region title.

"That's pretty good," coach Norman Smith said. "Guys in the wrestle-backs kept their composure and made it through to the next weekend - where it really counts."

The top four wrestlers in each weight class qualified for the Group AAA state tournament, which begins Friday at Robinson High School in Fairfax.

"We're not going to miss a beat," said Smith, in his first year leading the Wildcats. "We keep plugging away, and it's going to be the same result year in and year out.''

That was the yawner part. But individually speaking, there were some real thrillers in the finals. Rivalries, upsets, nail-biters, they were all there.

And the battle for second was tight, as Cox edged Kellam by half a point, and was only 9.5 ahead of fourth-place Kempsville.

Kellam had a big day, pushing four into the finals and qualifying a second-best six for the state tournament, highlighted by 103-pound champion Mike Holcomb.

And the match many came to see - 112-pound Eric Olanowski's rematch of last year's state final against Kempsville's Brian Wright - went down to the wire.

Trailing 1-0, Olanowski appeared to score a winning reversal as time expired, but the gym erupted in boos when the referee refused to count it and Wright walked away the champ. "I didn't think he had it, but it was getting close. I was thankful the clock ran out," Wright said. "Always a dogfight with him."

Another longtime rivalry played out at 119, where two-time state champion Walker Faison (Cox) met three-time state runner-up Matt Rosen (Great Bridge) in the finals. Faison won again, 6-2.

The Falcons, who had four in the finals and five state qualifiers, took another title at 125, where Collin Dozier won his third region championship.

Among Great Bridge's six champs, Jordan Frishkorn (130) became a four-time region winner, setting up his bid to become a three-time state champion, with a technical fall in the finals.

Other Wildcats winners were Scott Cust (160), Trey Rogers (215), two-time champs Adam Pittman (135) and Derek Gallagher (152), and 140-pounder Junior Pearman, a two-time state champ who won his third region crown.

Indian River's Calton Ford prevented a seventh title for Great Bridge, knocking off Matt Richardson 3-2 in the 275-pound championship. Ford is the Braves' first champ since Wildcats coach Norman Smith won one in 1994.

Kempsville claimed championships by Wright and 145-pounder Phillip Ramirez, who took down Great Bridge's Jared King with 21 seconds left in overtime to win.

"No better way to do it," Ramirez said. "Out of the toughest district in the state, this is like the state finals. I expect to see him again."

Granby achieved its goal of representing the Eastern District well, finishing with six place-winners and region champion Andrew Hairston, who won a thriller against Cox's Dakota Allossso.

The Comets' sixth-place team finish was their best since 1972. Hairston, who scored the winning reversal with four seconds left, also made history.

"Coach (Chris) Martin said congratulations, how does it feel? You're the first region champ since me," Hairston said. That was 1996. "I told him it feels amazing."

Martin was also Granby's last state champ. "I want to be the next," Hairston said.

Note: The day wasn't without controversy. Tallwood senior Carl Landers, the Beach District champion and one of the favorites to win both a region and state title at 189, was disqualified before the semifinals for allegedly using illegal weight-cutting methods.

A Peninsula District official found Landers on a stair-stepping machine in the locker room in front of a shower stall, with steam billowing.

National high school wrestling rules forbid the use artificial heat devices, including hot showers before weigh-ins.

"That (machine) has been in there since we got here, and there were people taking showers. That's why there was steam," Tallwood coach Jim Lambert said. "That just took away a kid's opportunity, and he's devastated."