Caisson Wrestling Team Earns Respect at VIC Championship
It was a cold and quiet ride to Lynchburg for the VIC Wrestling Championship Tournament as the team covered up and slept all the way as the snow kept falling until we got to our destination. Once there and in the gym weigh-in was completed, the tournament seeding was finalized, and then it was time to put the long season to its test.
Well, it heated up quickly as Bevin Morrison-Rodgers was the first Caisson to take the mat and won in (:48) seconds. A few minutes later Kyle Harvey took to the mat as an unseeded team member at 119 pounds and made short work of the wrestler from Covenant, pinning him in (:41) seconds.
We lost in the finals round which sent us down to the consolation round to wrestle for 3rd place.
Michael Labianca started it all of strong winning by pin in 1:46, followed by Kyle Harvey winning 13 – 4 over a wrestler that he had lost to during the regular season by one point. At 189-pounds, Novak Porter was wrestling a great match and ahead by the score of 10 – 2 when he made his one mistake and it cost him as he was pinned denying him a chance to advance to the finals. At 285-pounds, Justin Bell had to go against the #2 kid in the state giving up over a foot in height and about 75 pounds. Bell gave him all he could handle as the score stood at 2 -1 late in the 3rd period when the sheer size of the other wrestler just won out and Bell was pinned with thirty seconds to go in the match.
At the end of this round the team scores were announced and the Caissons sat in 5th place over all but just 4.5 points out of 2nd. Four teams were all with in 4.5 points of each other for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. The first place team was way ahead so by this point, with LCA having the team score basically wrapped up, everyone else was hunting for 2nd place. With two wrestlers in the finals and seven wrestlers in the consolation finals, we were very much in the hunt to accomplish our goal of finishing in the top four teams in the tournament.
At the end of the Championship round team finishers looked as follows:
Michael Labianca finished 2nd losing in the finals the the #2 ranked kid in the state
Bevin Morrison-Rodgers finished 4th
Kyle Harvey finished 2nd wrestling the best he has all season
Joseph Forehand finished 4th
Christopher Sliger finished 4th
Tyler Lawson finished 4th
Novak Porter finished 3rd
Conner Smith finished 3rd
Justin Bell finished 3rd
That’s 9/14 wrestlers placed as winners, and an outstanding feat for this young team!
It was a very bright day for the kids on the wrestling team as they did the FMS Family proud all day long. Now only one more step remains this season and that’s the State Championship Tournament in Richmond on Friday and Saturday, Feb 19th & 20th. We hope to finish in the top 4 which would provide us a birth in the Prep School National tournament the following weekend at Lehigh University.
Congratulations go out to ALL members of the team! They walked into the LCA gym in their new warm-ups 24 strong. They did a great job and earned a lot of respect for what they have done. This is just the beginning.
Coach C
FMS WRESTLING
GO CAISSONS!!!!!!!!!!
