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10 JD wrestlers headed to Group AA championship

After day one, only 10 of the more than 60 Jefferson District wrestlers to qualify for the Region II tournament had unblemished records. Day two had an ugly start for all those still in the championship hunt except Western Albemarle’s Max Wiener. However, in the consolation rounds, nine other local wrestlers managed to rebound from prior losses to earn trips to the Group AA championship at the Salem Civic next week.

And Wiener? The 171 pound Warrior was the lone JD representative in final round of the Region II championship where he narrowly finished second to Faquier’s Jake Fahlfeder, in a 5-2 decision.

“The pressure was off there, but it was still all for the glory,” Wiener said. “I think the match to get into the finals (against James Wood’s Cory Schrock) might have been my best match ever. I was really working my moves. I’m really excited about states now, and this is the first time I’m going there with a friend.”

More on that friend later. After beating Schrock to start the day, Wiener guaranteed himself a trip to Salem, his second in three years after he qualified as a sophomore.

Four JD wrestlers placed third including Fluvanna County’s Justin Zimmerman and Christian Chirico at 103 and 160 respectively. The two have welcome company next week.

“I was proud of wrestling back after a loss to third place,” Chirico said. “We’ve got three guys going to state’s from this school though, that’s the most ever for Fluvanna. We wrestled tough today and I was pretty happy with it all.”

It wasn’t just the most for the school, it was the most of any of the JD teams as Logan Walls took fourth place at 189 pounds. Last year, Fluvanna also provided the lone Group AA champion as it did the year before in Willie Crawford. Chirico and company looking to add to that tradition.

“I think the coaches will give us a day off on Monday but after that we’ll probably head to UVa to find some guys to scrap with, it should be a lot of fun,” Chirico said.

Taking down Walls for third place was Shin, Western’s other state representative. The first year wrestler has national tournament level experience in martial arts, and put his experience to good use.

“As a first year wrestler I felt like whatever I did here today was going to feel like a victory,” Shin said. “I don’t know how to do a whole lot of wrestling take downs, I just do a lot of judo moves. I’ve got my hip tosses and this weird roll that I do that nobody seems to understand and that’s straight from judo.

Louisa County senior Nate Whitmer had one of the more compelling stories on the day. After falling on Friday night in the second round, Whitmer came into Saturday on short rest and won all four of his matches to pick up third place at 215, pinning all four of his opponents in the process.

“After I got to the (consolation rounds), I just tried to wrestle not to lose,” Whitmer said. “After I won the semifinal in (consolation), it was a sigh of relief and third place was just a bonus. After last night I swear to God I didn’t get a wink of sleep. It’s tough going home 1-1 and not knowing what the second day is going to bring. Today, I feel like there isn’t a person in this gym I haven’t hugged.”

Monticello’s Alex Via had a similar story. The Mustangs junior also fell to close Friday night, but pinned his first two opponents to set up a consolation match with Orange County’s Ryan Almond, the wrestler who edged him for first place in the JD championship at 140.

In one of the most exciting matches of the day, Via and Almond were tied going into the third period. Via chose to go down to start, worked out of Almond’s grasp and avoided the JD champ’s attacks for the last minute of the match to win 1-0. Via finished fourth overall.

“I put our past matches behind and didn’t think about them,” Via said of going up against the familiar foe for the right to go to Salem. “On the bottom (to start the third) I knew I could get out. He’s never been wanting to stay on top since I’ve been wrestling him. I knew as soon as I got up, everything was going to be alright if I could just keep (upright) with him.”

The Jefferson champions, Orange, finished eighth as a team, but  Michael Benner and Connor Nave each came in fourth at 140 and 171 respectively to qualify for the Group AA championship.

As a sophomore, Charlottesville’s Shiruna Ntenda also advanced to another weekend of wrestling. Ntenda took fourth place at 145 pounds in this his second Region II tournament.

The Group AA championship begins Friday in Salem.

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