Graham High Wrestling

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Southwest District Wrestling Tournament is on Wednesday, February 16, at Grundy(Riverview Middle). Wrestling starts at 4:00.

 

http://www.bdtonline.com/articles/2005/02/13/sports/02gi.txt

 

G-Men grab Graham Invitational

Posted: Saturday, Feb 12, 2005 - 10:37:37 pm EST

By TOM BONE

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

 

 

 

BLUEFIELD, Va. - If Saturday's Graham Invitational wrestling tournament had been a Hollywood script, the followers of the Galax Maroon Tide would be looking for a rewrite of an unreal ending.

 

The Graham G-Men entered the trophy round with an 18-point deficit yet claimed their fourth consecutive championship of the invitational, turning back the Tide 46-36.

 

"Galax had a very, very good wrestling team. They had a full team," said Graham coach Tim Woodward. "We had to forfeit one weight class to them."

 

Jesse Peery, voted most outstanding wrestler by the coaches, began Graham's comeback with a victory in the 152-pound match.

 

 

 

At 215 pounds, G-Man Brent Cook "really turned things around" in his match, Woodward said. "He was about eight points down, but right there at the buzzer he managed to throw and pin (his opponent, although) he was outweighed by 35 pounds."

 

That put Graham ahead by four points with the heavyweight showdown still to come. The outcome was in the hands of junior Elisha Martin.

 

"I was so hyped up," Martin said. "I wanted to go out there and win."

 

With 15 seconds left in his third and final period, Martin's pin wrapped up the victory and he left the mat with "relief, and joy that I helped my team win," he said.

 

Woodward said, "It was great to come back on a Galax team that, I thought, had our backs against the wall. ... From 152 (lb.) to 275, we just ran straight pins, right across the board."

 

Peery said, "We knew what we had to do."

 

"We were fired up," teammate Travis Walk said. "We were ready to wrestle." The last portion of the meet, he said, "was nerve-wracking. I'd finished my match so I was just standing there, watching."

 

Graham's Andy Henderson said, "It feels great to win in front of our home fans and at our school. It seems that our school is finally getting into the wrestling thing, so we look for a big turnaround the rest of the year."

 

Eric McDaniel, a Tazewell sophomore, went 4-0 in the tournament, finishing second at 160 pounds behind Patrick Henry phenom Kellie Nichols.

 

McDaniel said the level of competition "was really rough compared to others we've been in." Asked for the reason for his unbeaten performance, McDaniel said, "Hard work all week. That's about all you can do - work your butt off."

 

The weather-delayed tournament hosted seven varsity teams that included around 100 boys. The quickest pin trophy went to Travis Rose of third-place Lebanon, who took eight seconds to subdue an opponent. Rose finished first in his weight class.

 

Graham reached the trophy round by beating Holston 72-6, Lebanon 60-24, Grayson County 57-18 and Tazewell 72-6. Tazewell defeated Patrick Henry 30-18 but lost to Galax and Lebanon.

 

- Contact Tom Bone at

 

tbone@bdtonline.com

 

Team results

 

1, Graham; 2, Galax; 3, Lebanon; 4, Tazewell; 5, Grayson Co.; 6, Patrick Henry; 7, Holston.

 

Individual first places

 

103 lb., Amos Shenck, Galax, 4-0. 112 lb., Zach Duty, Lebanon, 5-0. 119 lb., Travis Walk, Graham, 5-0. 125 lb., tie, Travis Jefferson, Galax and Will Necessary, Holston. 130 lb., Trevor Jefferson, Galax, 4-0. 135 lb., Travis Rose, Lebanon, 5-0. 140 lb., Matt Ritchie, Galax, 4-0. 145 lb., tie, Dylan Stowell, Galax, and Cody Carrico, Grayson, 4-0. 152 lb., Jesse Peery, Graham, 5-0. 160 lb., Kellie Nichols, Patrick Henry, 4-0. 171 lb., Andy Henderson, Graham, 4-0. 189 lb., Tyler Barreras, Graham, 4-0. 215 lb., tie, Eric Anderson, Lebanon, and Brad Stewart, Patrick Henry, 5-0. 275 lb., Elisha Martin, Graham, 5-0.

 

Other local top-four finishers

 

Graham - Jared Palmer (third, 112 lb.), Reggie Brown (third, 125 lb.), Antonio Kelsor (third, 130 lb.), Charlie Holbrook (second, 140 lb.), Justin Dove (fourth, 145 lb.), Jim Ed Williams (third, 160 lb.), Cook (second, 215 lb.).

 

Tazewell - Shane Wilson (second, 119 lb.), Jared Thomas (third, 145 lb.), Eric McDaniel (second, 160 lb.), Luis Salinas (fourth, 275 lb.).