Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9403010173
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Even then, just when it looks like he's down, the resilient Pulaski County wrestler can find a way to stay alive and win a match.
Four times this season, the determined 103-pound sophomore was on the wrong end of 5-0 scores after one period. Four times he came back to win those matches.
Even though he lost by a decision in the finals of the Roanoke Valley District wrestling tournament, Pannell wriggled out of near pins on no fewer than three occasions.
He may have lost, but he was Pulaski's only representative in the championship round, a fact that may have surprised some RVD aficionados.
"It's not a surprise to me," said Pulaski County head coach Fred Blevins. "He's worked real hard to get here."
Pannell could have been counted out last year, when he compiled an unspectacular record on the junior varsity squad and placed only fourth in the jayvee tournament.
Before the end of last summer, however, he was representing Virginia in a national wrestling tournament.
The improvement began to show last spring, when he was competing as a member of the Pulaski County Wrestling Club, which boasts a membership of approximately 50 men and boys ages 6 to 60.
Pannell spent last spring and summer wrestling for his dad, Chuck, who is the club president, and Danny Osborne, a club coach who has a couple of sons on the high school team.
Osborne instructed Pannell in the finer points of Greco-Roman wrestling, a style unlike "folkstyle" wrestling used in the high school ranks. Greco-Roman allows only upper-body contact, rewards aggressive wrestling and is considered by many as the most exciting brand of wrestling.
After wrestling the Greco-Roman way for only a few months, Pannell took third in the state in his weight division and participated with hundreds of other grapplers from across the country in the USA Wrestling Cadet Nationals at the University of Missouri.
He didn't place in that meet, but he won the freestyle competition in his age division at the Commonwealth Games. This year, he has been one of the best 103-pound wrestlers in the RVD. He was undefeated in district competition before losing in the tournament finals. He advanced to the consolation quarter-finals in the Northwest Region tournament finals, narrowly missing a Group AAA state bid.
"Mr. Osborne helped develop a lot of my main success by showing me a lot of Greco things," Pannell said. "I like [Greco-Roman wrestling] better than this [folkstyle wrestling], actually."
If he didn't like either style, he could choose from some others that the club teaches. There's backhold wrestling, for instance, an old Scottish style where the combatants wrap their arms around one another's shoulders, lock hands, and try to force the other to the ground or break the opponent's grip.
The club even dabbles in sumo wrestling during practices. Although it would take four Lee Pannells to make one good sumo wrestler, the slight 15-year old is actually pretty good at bumping bellies with bigger guys.
"I use my speed," he said.
On the high school mats, Pannell uses his speed and smarts. He viewed his first wrestling match as a fifth-grader while taking a break from a chess tournament at Pulaski Middle School.
He wrestles much the same way he plays chess. He waits for the other guy to make the first move, then he strikes. That may be one reason he falls behind early in some of his matches.
"I'm a defensive wrestler," he said. "I let the other guy take the first shot, then I work off his mistakes."
And if Pannell doesn't cash in on those mistakes the first time around, don't count him out.
"When he gets beat, he learns from it," said Blevins. "You might beat him the first time, but you won't beat him the second time."
by CNB