Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 15, 1991 TAG: 9102140261
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Ray Cox
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Nobody had a rougher New River District wrestling tournament than freshman Charlie Freer of Christiansburg.
Freer, who had wrestled at 125 pounds all season, was pressed into service at 140 because David Caldwell, the regular, failed to qualify academically.
Freer didn't find out about it until the morning of the meet. Weighing in close to 125 at 9 a.m., he had to beef up to at least 130 to be able to wrestle at 140, according to the rules.
So he gorged on cookies, milk and water until official weigh-in at noon. Not unexpectedly, he didn't feel too hot when the tournament began. Still, he wrestled his way to a third-place finish and will be Region IV bound.
Presumably, his preparations for the meet this week involve a healthy appetite. . . .
For every ticket sold to the Rocky Gap-at-Shawsville basketball game tonight, $1 will go to Brian Sisson, a former Shawnee player paralyzed in a hunting accident this fall. Among the attractions of the benefit will be Shawsville principal Nelson Simpkins, a former coach, shooting free throws for pledges.
When powerful Marion lost 89-83 at Lee High last week, the Scarlet Hurricane was 27 points down before rallying to a one-point deficit. But, as is often the case, the exertion of coming from behind was too great and Marion never turned the corner.
Marion coach K.W. Lawson didn't seem too distraught with the result. "That's a three-hour bus ride down there. We didn't play decent until the fourth quarter." . . .
Thompson Lester of Blacksburg, whose basketball team was off Tuesday, was spotted at the Northside-at-Christiansburg game.
Perhaps recalling the frigid conditions there when Blacksburg played earlier this season, Lester wore gloves most of the game. However, the climate was much more temperate for Northside than it was for the Indians. Whether there was a connection was unknown.
Radford wrestling coach Buddy Shull, handicapping Region IV, didn't go out on much of a limb to pick six-time defending champion Grundy to win it again. "Everybody else is strictly wrestling for second place," Shull said.
Earlier this year, Christiansburg coach Dean Underwood said: "I don't see anybody beating them for the next 10 years."
Here are some of the reasons those predictions have basis: Grundy, which is taking aim at its fifth-straight state title, comes to Marion after having won 11 of 13 weight classes at the Southwest District meet. Grundy's people don't think it unreasonable to hope for eight regional champs. Among those who the Golden Wave are counting on include 112-pound Shane Bowman (27-2, 25 pins), a state champion at 103 last year; Eric Kendrick at 119, the 112 champion last year; 145-pound Chris Childress (28-2, third in the state last year); and heavyweight Laddy Fields (29-3).
All of them are plenty ferocious, but Fields apparently is something to see. "He's in great shape for a heavyweight," said Kevin Dresser, the coach of the private Grundy Wrestling Club. "You better be ready to wrestle six minutes."
Chad Pillips has been playing outstanding basketball for Radford. Among his recent feats were outscoring Tazewell's Chris Webb 29-23, defending him, and outrebounding him in a 69-64 victory. Webb is 6-feet-8; Phillips, who also had two 3-pointers, is 6-1.
Blacksburg celebrated a night off from basketball by having a four-quarter intra-squad scrimmage Tuesday.
"We want to keep the week in order," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. . . .
The night off probably will help Blacksburg forward Jon Maher, who has taken an unexpectedly long time to recover fully from the flu.
"He's just having trouble getting up and down the floor," Trear said. "He never had trouble with that before."
The woes of Christiansburg's basketball team in close games are well-documented.
After losing 64-62 to Northside, the state's No. 2-ranked Group AA team, this week, Blue Demons coach Gerald Thompson lamented that both teams had played extremely well.
"All you can do is go home and cry about it," he said. . . .
Thompson had high praise for his team's ball-handling, except during one fatal stretch at the end, against Northside. Christiansburg had 13 turnovers.
"Thirteen turnovers against that kind of pressure is pretty good," he said.
"We won't see that kind of pressure around here the rest of the year. They do a super job defensively. They take you right out to midcourt. They had us shoved out past the hashmark."
by CNB