Wolves finish fourth at East Fairmont Tournament

January 9, 2007

The Wolves wrestling team traveled to Fairmont on Saturday, January 6, for the 12-team East Fairmont "Quest for the Nest" Tournament. The meet featured the four top-ranked middle school/junior high school teams in the state, according to wvmat.com. Edison Junior High and Point Pleasant Middle School were tied for the top spot in the polls, with Blennerhassett Junior High School ranked third, followed closely by Warm Springs Middle School.

Coaches Poll

Jr High/MS Ratings

January 5, 2007

Second 2006-07 Poll

Overall Top 20 Points (Previous)

1. tie Point Pleasant 116 (1)

1. tie Edison 116 (5)

3. Blennerhassett 102 (9)

4. Warm Springs 101 (3)

5. Spencer 97 (4)

6. tie Oak Glen 81 (2)

6. tie Milton 81 (6)

8. Williamstown 72 (17)

9. Independence 71 (-)

10. Robert Bland 53 (7)

11. Elkview 49 (15)

12. Clay County 40 (16)

13. Ripley 39 (-)

14. tie East Fairmont 37 (10)

14. tie Cheat Lake 37 (11)

14. tie Trap Hill 37 (-)

17. Moundsville 35 (8)

18. Buckhannon Upshur 24 (14)

19. John Adams 20 (17)

20. Bridge Street 4 (-)

Also receiving votes: Shady Spring, Follansbee, Cameron.

The tournament pitted four teams in three pools, wrestling a dual meet format. The Wolves had Taylor County and Mannington Middle Schools in their pool, along with Edison Junior High.

The Wolves easily defeated both Taylor County and Mannington, by respective scores of 78-3 and 63-21, before losing a heartbreaker to Edison 41-40.

The Wolves, by finishing second in their pool, wrestled the other two teams that finished second in their respective pools in the consolation round. Warm Springs defeated East Fairmont 60-30 and Cheat Lake 53-30 to finish in fourth place.

Edison went on to defeat both Point Pleasant and Blennerhassett to claim the team title, with Point Pleasant finishing second and Blennerhassett third.

"It was the luck of the draw, or "unluck," however you want to look at it," said Warm Springs coach Shawn Diehl. No other team came nearly as close to beating Edison as we did, but because we lost a match in our pool, the best we could do was fourth. I was pleased with the way our kids wrestled. I thought they did an outstanding job."

Warm Springs had seven wrestlers go undefeated in the tournament and two more finished the day 4-1.

Ryan Diehl (78), Isaac Reed (84), Cohen Hovermale (90), Damen Caper (110), Zack Risinger (116), Tory Bennett (135) and Hobert Delph (285) each finished 5-0, while both Ricky Michael (145) and Dylan Mason (155) going 4-1.

Cody Gaither (128) was 3-2, Lucas Murphy (95) and Matt Parkinson (171) each finished the tournament with two wins and three losses, C.J. Gosey (190) was 1-4 and Kyle Haffarth (102) was 0-5.

The Wolves will host Charles Town and Harpers Ferry on Tuesday, January 16.