Fishburne Military School Sends Four to National Wrestling Tourney
Recap by Coach C
Yesterday the Fishburne Miltiary School wrestlers wrapped up the State Championships down in Virginia Beach. and the team just arrived back on campus.
In order to truly do this justice, lets take a very short walk down memory lane…just one year ago, the Caissons had a RECORD SETTING team: Last year’s team record 20 – 4; last year’s team was 2nd in VIC regular Season and 2nd at the VIC Championship tournament losing to LCA by about 75 points; last year’s team was 10th at the State Tournament (Best team finish for FMS Wrestling); last year’s team had 5 wrestlers win medals at the State Championship (best for FMS wrestling in a single season); last year’s team had 1 National Prep Championship Qualifier.
So that sets the tone. TOUGH TOUGH records to break, particularly since 7 of the wrestlers on that team graduated and moved on leaving holes in the line up for this year’s team.
So how did this year’s team match up?
This year’s season record 18-2; this year’s team placed 2nd in VIC Regular Season, and 2nd in the VIC Championship Tournament (losing to LCA but by only 13.5 points); this year’s team finish at the State Championship…well, we will get to that.
The State tournament kicked off as the teams all weighed in at noon on Saturday and the Caissons were greeted by the CAISSONS NATION FANS at Virginia Beach (OH! and at the hotel where all of Caissons doors were marked with a STAR and Caissons Nation…yes we travel well).
The first round was a fairly quick one and the Caissons did a great job avoiding any major upsets and moved on to round 2 (where all matches are key). Again the Caissons did well and had no major surprises or upset moving on to the Quarter Finals. A win in the Quarter Finals puts you in the State Semi Finals and on the Medal Stand for sure. the few consolation rounds that were wrestled would leave just 8 wrestlers in each weight class at the end of Saturday. So, if a wrestler had to weigh in on Sunday morning, they were going to stand on the Medal Stand at the end of the weekend.
So how did this go? Lets look at Sunday’s weigh in:
At 113. Baan was to weigh in for the Consolations
at 120 Lenardson was to weigh in for the Championship Semi Finals
at 126 Farrell as to weigh in for the Championship Semi Finals
138 May was to weigh in for the Championship Semi Finals
145 Davis was to weigh for in the Consolations
182 Hansen was to weigh in for the Consolations
285 Bou Shebal was to weigh in for the Consolations.
So, going into the next rounds, we knew that SEVEN wrestlers (our the 13 Caissons who entered) would stand on the Medal Stand at the end of the day. NEW SCHOOL RECORD!
The day started out good as Baan pulled off a triple-overtime win over rival HMA to advance to a top-5 spot in the state.
Then Lenardson, wrestling in the Semi Finals, would PIN the #2 seed and advance to the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS. First Caisson to do this in a VERY LONG TIME.
Farrell would lose in the Semi Finals, and drop down to the Consolations.
May would also lose in the Semi Finals and drop to the Consolations.
Davis would win to advance himself to at least a top-5 finish.
Hansen would also win to advance to a top-5 finish
and Bou Shebal would lose putting him in the 7/8 match for a 7th place finish at best.
Then it was on to the final round prior to the Championship Round.
At 120: Lenardson would be sitting and watching as he was already in the State Finals and would be wrestling for a State Championship within the hour. OH did I mention since he was in the finals he had already QUALIFIED FOR THE PREP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT, so there we go 1 wrestler qualified (matching last year).
At 126: Farrell would win his match advancing himself to the Consolation Finals for 3rd place. OH WAIT that means he would finish no lower than 4th. And since the top 4 QUALIFY FOR THE NATIONAL PREP CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT, we now have 2 wrestlers headed to PA next week.
At 138: May would also win and he is now QUALIFIED FOR THE PREP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT. That’s 3 wrestlers now headed to PA next week.
At 145: Davis would also move on with a win and now he is QUALIFIED FOR THE PREP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT. Make that 4 Caisson wrestlers headed to Nationals in PA next week.
At 182: Hansen would lose and fall to the 5th and 6th place match in the final championship round.
And at 285: Bou Shebel sat this round as he was already in the 7/8 place match in the championship Finals.
So how did they all fare?
120: Lenardson State Runner up, 2nd Place
126: Farrell 4th place
138: May 3rd Place
145: Davis 4th Place
182: Hansen (IN A HUGE HUGE HUGE MATCH WILL EXPLAIN IN A MINUTE) wins to finish in 5th place
285: Bou Shebal Would win what we called the Clinching Match (again, will explain). As he wrestled his best match of the year against the kid from HMA who had pinned him on Sat. Bou Shebal would return the favor and pin him in the second period to finish in 7th place.
Great Showing by all of them!
So, now the team scores: It was a roller coaster all weekend as the Caissons NEVER fell out of the top 10, rising as high as 3rd place and then fall to 6th. Did I mention the top 6 team walk out with a trophy at the State Championship tournament? At this point I counted (but miscounted) and figured we were locked into 6th place. BUT I had miscounted and all of a sudden here came Cape Henry, the host school, catching us little by little.
With just a few matches left they had cut our lead down to just 9 and a half points. Then Hansen would face off against a wrestler from Cape Henry and this one could mean us falling to 7th or holding on to 6th. It was a GREAT MATCH going back and forth. In the 3rd period Hansen was trailing by 1 point with one minute to go and then he turned the tables, scoring an escape to tie it and a take-down to take the lead. He would hold on to win the match and it looked like we would clinch a spot in the top 6.
Well, at 195 pounds Cape Henry had a wrestler (their last one) take to the mat and win by forfeit (you old-timers will know this name)…Jeb Forehand dislocated his hip in the semi-finals and had to default, giving the win to the Cape Henry along with bonus points, so they again closed the gap.
We were counting over and over again…was it going to be like last year? Would we finished again in 10th and Cape Henry finish in 11th (just a half a point behind us)?… or would they overtake us by that half a point?
Well it would not matter as Bou Shebal made it clear with his pin that the Caissons would finish in the top 6 at the State Championship. Yes we have the Trophy to show for it. Best finish in FMS Wrestling History as a team. A great weekend for these young men to really spotlight our fine school.
Hats off to these young men for an AWESOME SEASON once again, BUT its not over…
FOUR Caissons will travel to Lehigh University on Thursday to take part in the Prep National Wrestling Championship Tournament. This is a tournament that will feature Prep Schools from across the nation. Included in the mix are the #1 and #2 Overall HS Wrestling Teams in the nation.
Make sure to wish Lenardson, Farrell, May, and Davis good luck as they will face off with the BEST of the BEST in HS Wrestling and represent The “CAISSONS NATION”.
Fishburne Military School is the oldest and smallest of all military schools for boys in Virginia. Its college-prep curriculum is built upon the structure of an Army JROTC program. Boasting a 100% college-acceptance rate for the past 10 consecutive years, FMS has also been designated as a JROTC Honor Unit with Distinction and may nominate qualified candidates to the United States Service Academics. Fishburne hosts one of only four Summer JROTC programs in the nation, accredited by US Army Cadet Command. For more information visit www.fishburne.org.
