ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 23, 1995 TAG: 9512250048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
CAVE SPRING finishes second in the wrestling event at Christiansburg by advancing four wrestlers to the championship round and winning three titles.
Patrick County High School overcame a first-day 11-point deficit to capture the Christiansburg High School Wrestling Tournament on Friday.
The Cougars were the only team to eclipse the 200-point mark, winning the tournament with 202 points.
``I am very proud of the way our team did, considering this is only our second match,'' Patrick County coach Mark Gammonds said.
Jeff Hamm won Patrick County's only individual title, defeating Jesse Bernard of Carroll County, 8-4, to win the 135-pound classification.
Cave Spring finished second with 170 points, the high mark for a Timesland team. Magna Vista, the leader after two rounds, finished third with 158.5 points.
``I'm pleased with our finish,'' Cave Spring coach Raymond Broughman said. "We had some guys get some wins today. We're ready to break for Christmas then concentrate on Franklin County.''
The Knights advanced the most wrestlers to the championship round, sending four of their five semifinal qualifiers.
Cave Spring tied for the highest number of individual titles with Bassett. Each school captured three championships.
David Richards (125 pounds), Rich Miera (130) and Adam Mancen (152) won titles for the Knights, while Jeff Shively (145), Brian Burke (160) and John Miller (275) finished first for the Bengals.
Miera's match was one of the championship round's true nailbiters.
Trailing Magna Vista's Waylan Ryder 4-2 entering the third period, Miera rallied to score three points, the last of which came on a stalling penalty, to win 5-4.
``[Ryder] was really wearing down in the final period,'' Miera said. ``I just keep working hard. It feels really great to come back from 4-2.''
Christiansburg's Jamie Harris, last season's Group AA runner-up, added to his trophy case with a victory in the 112-pound division.
Harris defeated Staunton River's Anthony Williams 8-2 in the final round. Harris advanced to face Williams with an 18-7 victory over Magna Vista's Darin Dickerson, a Group AA championship qualifier a year ago.
``I was able to push [Williams] off balance, then come around and grab him,'' Harris said. ``He was doing a good job of barring my arm.
``I'm not too pleased with my overall performance in the tournament, but I'll take the win.''
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB