Fishburne’s Farrar Claims VISAA 120 pound State Championship, Eyes Nationals

Fishburne Military School Cadet Matthew Farrar Claims VISAA 120 pound State Championship

Waynesboro, VA — No matter what, Fishburne Military School Cadet and stand-out wrestler Matthew Farrar (Waynesboro, VA) will end his high school career with a coveted State Championship and the title VISAA Lightweight Wrestler of the Year.

Just last week, Farrar claimed his fourth Conference championship in as many tries and was named the Virginia Independent Conference Wrestler of the Year.

Farrar pinned his way to the State Championship match where he locked horns with number 2 ranked grappler from St Christopher school. Farrar lead 6-1 with nine seconds to go in the match and got caught with a head lock but recovered for a 6-5 win and the Championship.

In doing so, Farrar earned his second trip to the Prep School National Tournament to be held at Lehigh University in PA this weekend. On his way to the National Tourney, Farrar set a new city, county, and school record with career wins by claiming his 170th victory, surpassing Brandon Summers who was on top with 168 career wins.

Joining Farrar at Nationals will be fellow Fishburne Cadets Levi Smith (Fayetteville, NC) and Silvio Dionisotti (Sudbury, MA).

Smith, a junior, finished 4th after dropping a hard-fought semifinal match. at the State Tournament. Dionisotti, also a junior, lost a triple-overtime semifinal match but bounced back to place third and earn his second trip to the National Tournament.

Fishburne Military School Wrestling Coach, Terry Waters, praised his team and points hopefully toward the program’s future. “As a team, we wrestled well, we are young…in fact, this is the youngest team I have ever coached; but with just two seniors on the mat this year our future looks bright.  We were hoping for another top-10 finish, but came up 2 points short. We sent 8 of our 14 starters to states; so, it is a good showing overall. All but one wrestler won two matches at the State level.”

Fishburne Military School is the oldest and smallest of all military schools for boys in Virginia. Its college-prep curriculum is built on the structure of an Army JROTC program. FMS has been designated as a JROTC Honor Unit with Distinction and may nominate qualified candidates to the United States Service Academies. Fishburne hosts one of only four Summer JROTC programs in the nation that is accredited by US Army Cadet Command.