Turner hopeful Graney won’t miss postseason
Graney injured his foot while running sprints in the wrestling room at Stonewall. At first, the injury was thought to be a break and the rest of Graney’s season looked bleak. But after a second opinion concluded that it was a severe sprain, there’s a better chance Graney will be available in the postseason.
“I’m optimistic, so I expect things will work out,” said Turner. “If they don’t, I know he’ll be crushed, but that’s what happens when you put a lot of work into a sport. If [he’s out] because of injury, that’ll be hard to take.”
Graney, Turner said, was finishing a sprint when he planted one foot on a wall to brace himself. When he tried to land with his other foot, he came down awkwardly and that’s when the injury occurred.
In better news from Raider camp, 140-pounder Marc LaRochelle has verbally committed to wrestle next year at Davidson University in North Carolina.
“I like that I’ll start freshman year,” LaRochelle explained, adding he wanted to go to a smaller school. “When I came in, they only had five wrestlers. But [head coach T.J.] Jaworsky is starting to rebuild the team, and he’s looking for 140 and 149-pounders, which is where I’ll fall in.”
“It’s the type of place that’s small, and gives the individual attention that a lot of freshmen need,” said Turner, who accompanied LaRochelle and LaRochelle’s father on a visit. “It affords him a very challenging academic standard, because he’s a junior genuis. And it’s challenging in wrestling, because they compete against a lot of Division-I schools.
“The atmosphere, the school, the team room, it all seems to fit Marc’s personality.”
The Wildcats wrestle in the Southern Conference, which also includes VMI, Chattanooga, The Citadel, UNC-Greensboro and Appalachian State.
FORGE FALLS TO ST. MARK’S
Colonial Forge lost only its third dual meet of the season after falling 30-24 to St. Mark’s of Delaware over the weekend.
St. Mark’s won three of four matches in the upper weights. But the Eagles did have several winners: Andrew Reece won by a pin at 112, as did Sean Wilson at heavyweight. But those were the Eagles’ only pins of the match. Jay Chichester, Ryan Hord, Scott Fisher, and Dale Pellar each won by decision — including Chichester’s rideout win over Pat Atkinson.
The Eagles will travel to Christiansburg next weekend for a super quad that also includes the host Demons, Grundy, Warren County, Turner Ashby and Patrick Henry.
ANOTHER LIGHTWEIGHT SHOWDOWN
Last week’s battle between Stonewall’s Nathaniel Barbee and Osbourn Park’s Jeremy Adams wasn’t the only showdown between two talented lightweights. And like the Barbee-Adams match, there was no lack of excitement. Over the weekend, Gar-Field’s Tyler Bowers defeated Hylton’s Lam Ly 8-6 in overtime at a quad meet.
Barbee beat Adams in a rideout last Wednesday.
On Saturday, Ly, who usually wrestles at 112, bumped up to 119 to face Bowers. Ly built a 6-3 lead, but Bowers was able to bounce back and tie the match, forcing it into overtime.
“It was a great match, everything I expected it would be,” said Bulldogs coach P.J. Pcsolinski.
“I think Hylton’s coach would agree, they both needed a tough match to know where they need to get to,” said Indians coach Rick Seipp. “I think Tyler just wore him out, because Ly came up from 112, and that was a big advantage. Ly dominated the first three minutes and then Tyler kind of put it to him. But it went into overtime, so it’s not like it was a blowout.”
Hylton had three other wrestlers post 3-0 marks over the weekend: Sheldon Frantz, Daniel Chichester and Alex Edwards. David Sledz also went unbeaten at 2-0, but sat out at 119 when Ly wrestled Bowers.
Seipp has also been impressed with heavyweight Mark Logan. Seipp said Logan and Bowers compete in their statistics. Logan currently has the edge — both wrestlers have four losses, but Logan has one more win than Bowers.
Brian Hunsicker covers wrestling for the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger. Reach him at (703) 878-8053.