With seven wrestlers taking home Jefferson District titles, Orange County walked out of their own gym with a convincing JD team title on Saturday evening, winning the event by 59 points. The Hornets were dominant in nearly every weight class and qualified 11 total wrestlers for next week’s Region II championship.
“We had a real good day and wrestled well” said Orange coach John Kayajanian, who was named the JD coach of the year following the meet. “It was important to get those first few wins, we did and then went on a roll. We’ll see if we can carry it over – the region is a different beast and it’s going to be tough.”
Hugh Morris, Jack Coleman, Ryan Almond, Zach Ryder, Sean Raftery, Connor Nave and Billy Knabe won individual titles at respective weight classes of 125, 130, 140, 145 152,171 and 285 pounds to fuel the win. Joining those seven next week in the Region are Isaiah Coleman-Combs at 103, Phillip Coleman at 119, Mike Benner at 135, Trevor Payne at 160 and Antonio Murhpy at 215.
Louisa County edged Fluvanna County by eight points to take the runner up trophy. Lions senior Josh Scharf was named the JD wrestler of the year and won his bracket at 119 pounds. Nate Whitmer also ran through his weight class unbeaten on the day at 215. Louisa also managed to qualify all 12 of its wrestlers for the Region II championship.
“It’s a great feeling to have the whole team back for next week,” Scharf said.
That means extended seasons for Shane Barton at 112, Gavin Tingen at 125, Brandon Bennington at 130, James Cusick at 135, Brandon Swinson at 140, Brandon Young at 145, Kephra Davis at 152, Winchester Robinson at 160, Cody Tucker at 189 and Pat Henson at 285.
“12 for 12, that’s awesome,” said Louisa coach Dan Bono. “We haven’t had 100 percent (qualify for the region) since they expanded the district.”
All seven of the JD schools that participate in wrestler advanced at least two wrestlers into Region II.
Fluvanna County’ Justin Zimmerman at 103 and Christian Chirico at 160 brought home JD titles to lead the Flucos. Fellow teammates Skye Wiersma, Jake Mahaffey, Jed Harris, Devon Manifold, Keyon Golden, Logan Walls, Ben Lacy and Dareon Carrington all qualified at 112, 119, 130, 145, 152, 189, 215 and 285.
In year four since Mike Sizemore launched the program, William Monroe was the fourth place finisher and saw Perrin Mills win at 112. Also advancing were Kyle Biesecker at 103, Calvin Biesecker at 125, Marco Meijia Ramos at 135, Clarence Rogers at 152Pierce Gaskins at 160, Ryan Roman at 171 and Doug Sizemore at 189.
Six wrestlers from Monticello qualified with Angel Hernandex providing a championship run at 135. Tyler Willis, Forest Thomsen-Diggs, Alex Via and Garret Brown all moved in respective weight classes of 112, 125, 140 and 145.
Western Albemarle’s Kai Shin was the champion at 189. The Warriors advanced Andrew Dickerson at 103, Quentin Goodbar at 130, Max Weiner at 171 and Brandon Clements at 285.
Charlottesville’s Shiruna Ntenda at 145 and Wade Kammauff at 160 each finished as runnerup to punch their Region II tickets. Joining them are counterparts Deion Rainey at 119, Jeremy Gilbert at 140, Eric Nissen at 152 and Erick Ndunguste at 171.
Region II tournament will begin on Friday at Orange County.
