ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512220062
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
Christiansburg became the wrestling mecca of Southwest Virginia on Thursday, as 16 high schools began competition in the Christiansburg High School Wrestling Tournament.
Magna Vista, the tournament's defending champions, advanced seven wrestlers into the semifinal round, and leads the team competition with 65.5 points.
"I really don't know why we do so well in this tournament,'' Warriors' 112-pounder Darin Dickerson said. "Maybe we just feel confident because we won here last year."
Magna Vista coach Brian Pace said the first day's action went pretty much as he expected.
"Some of our younger wrestlers really did well,'' Pace said, ``and our experienced guys stepped up as expected.''
Magna Vista advanced seven of its 11 wrestlers to today's semifinals.
Dickerson, J.J. Epperly (119 pounds), Richard Foley (125), Waylan Ryder (130), Carl Morton (160), Chris Whitlow (189) and Ryan Robertson (215) advanced for the Warriors.
Dickerson, a 1994 Group AA state qualifier, will face Christiansburg's Jamie Harris, last year's Group AA runner-up, in a 112-pound match that shapes up to be one of the semifinal round's best.
"That is going to be a really tough match,'' Pace said. "Harris is a really good wrestler, and Darin looked strong today. That is going to be important in the overall race.
"For us to be successful in this tournament, we are going to have to win the majority of our semifinal matches."
Harris won two matches by pin in a combined time of just 2:13. Dickerson recorded a 1:22 pin and a 14-0 decision over Radford's Todd Tritsch.
Cave Spring (62 points), Floyd County (59) and Radford (55) are second through fourth and each advanced five team members into the third round.
The Knights' 103-pound competitor, Kevin Music, recorded two of the three fastest pins of the evening, downing Radford's Will Shelor in 36 seconds and Staunton River's T.J. Sutherland in 26 seconds.
Music's semifinal opponent from Floyd County, Joseph Goorshy, picked up the second fastest pin, a 28-second win over Graham's Majer Elswick.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB