by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
Lancaster wrestlers brought home two golds and a silver from their opening tournament, The Little Giant Classic, at Waynesboro High School last weekend.
Freshman Adam Wilmore went 5-0 among 195 pounders in his debut with the varsity team to capture a gold medal. Wilmore was a state middle school champion on the Lancaster Middle School team last season.
Lancaster’s only returning state qualifier Deandre Wade also went unbeaten to win gold. Wade, a senior, finished 5-0 in the 120-pound weight class.
Sophomore 132-pounder Dominique Veney went 4-1 for a silver medal.
“Dominique got off to a slow start Saturday, but turned it around with four straight wins,” said LHS coach Craig Oren.
The Red Devils went 3-2 in the tournament, finishing fifth out of 10 teams. Lancaster beat Stonewall Jackson, 42-37, and Madison, 42-36. The Red Devils defeated Turner Ashby, 42-24. Western Albermarle downed the Red Devils, 63-12 and Crosby beat Lancaster, 66-15.
Sophomore Joseph Sheppard (138) and freshman Justin Baugh (152) both went 2-3 on the day. Freshman heavyweight Cedrick Ward, senior Tyus Clayton (152), senior John Martin (145) and junior Leanne Nguyen (106) each won one match.
“Tyus put together some tough performances, but his best came against Turner Ashby, where he scored a pin,” said Oren. “Cedrick and Justin showed a lot of potential as they wrestled really hard with very little experience.”
Oren has two girls on his 18-member team, including Nguyen and junior Alyssa Meadows, at 126 pounds. He returns only eight wrestlers, including Wade, Clayton, Martin, Nguyen, Veney, senior Matthew Bavuso (182), junior Will Parker (138) and sophomore Jacob Taft (152).
The team includes 10 newcomers including Baugh, Ward, Wilmore, Sheppard, Meadows, freshmen Andre Pittman (138) and heavweight William Cooke, sophomores Ethan Eppihimer (106) and Richie Failmezger (160) and junior heavyweight Joziah Arington.
“We are a young team with a lot of first-year wrestlers in the starting line-up,” said Oren. “But I was pleased with our team’s performance last weekend. Waynesboro is a tough tournament and we finished ahead of some good teams.”
Lancaster travels to Washington & Lee High School this Saturday, December 10 for Montrossity and will host its only home match of the season, Lancaster Duals, next Saturday, December 17.
SCHEDULE
- December 10 at Montrossity, W&L
- December 17 Lancaster Duals
- January 7 at Mathews
- January 13-14 at Northampton
- January 18 at Northumberland Tri
- January 20-21 at Ram Rumble, Lafayette High School
- January 25 at Middlesex Tri
- February 4 Conference #43 Tournament, Rappahannock County High School
- February 10-11 Region 1A East Tournament, Riverheads HS
- February 16-19 Group 1A Tournament, Salem Civic Center
