ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Wrestling tournaments such as the two high school state championships (Group A and AA) held simultaneously at the Salem Civic Center last week may be thought of as huge tapestries whose threads are story lines.
Hundreds of wrestlers, coaches, and families; hundreds of stories. A few of them:
QUICK STUDY:Wrestling is known as a sport that requires extraordinary will and fitness. It also demands a keen mind, so much is there to learn.
Most wrestlers take years to work their way up to proficiency in the sport.
Elmo Dunbar of Radford didn't have that long.
Ineligible for the second half of his first season of wrestling last year as a junior, the 215-pounder showed up this year for workouts with next to no experience.
That didn't stop him from throttling 25 straight opponents, including Coeburn's Israel Hamilton in the finals. Hamilton retired in agony, an injured knee past the point of no return.
``I watched him earlier in the day and it didn't seem like he was in that good a shape,'' Dunbar said. ``I had planned on wearing him out in the first period then going after him in the second.''
Hamilton came into the match 77-4, which made Dunbar's accomplishment all the more startling.
``Elmo's very athletic, very coachable, and very determined,'' said his coach, Tony DeHart. ``He can really focus.''
Dunbar doesn't plan on doing much more wrestling after this.
``I'd like to play some football in college if I can,'' he said. ``Football is still the best sport. Wrestling's all right when football isn't here, though.''
DOWN IN FRONT: Jamie Harris of Christiansburg had just won the 112-pound Group AA crown by hanging on to beat Scotty Newport of Grundy 13-10.
This was of great moment for several reasons. For openers, Harris was one of the few wrestlers able to stem what would become a Golden Wave flood tide (Grundy won nine of 14 individual titles and added to that three second-place finishes and two thirds on their way to claiming its 10th-straight team championship). He was also the first Christiansburg wrestler since Tim Nininger won 103 in 1991 to bring home a state crown.
Naturally, Harris' proud coach, Dean Underwood, wanted to record the occasion of Harris receiving his medal on film.
Not so fast there, Coach.
While they were waiting for the wrestlers to be announced, a woman stepped right smack in front of the veteran coach and hoisted a video camera to her shoulder.
Underwood's blue eyes flashed as though somebody had lighted sparklers in them.
``That's all right,'' he said, rather loudly. ``We didn't want to take any pictures.''
No response or movement from the woman.
Really riled up then, Underwood marched around in front of the woman and stationed his back within inches of the lens of her video camera.
She said not a word.
It was probably the smartest thing she did all day.
A SIGN OF SUPPORT: Kamal Chantal of of Floyd County, a 152-pounder, was the first wrestler from his school ever to make it to the finals.
An entire Chantal rooting section came to celebrate the momentous occasion. Several of the members of said section had flash cards that were supposed to spell ``Kamal'' on one side and ``Floyd'' on the other. Alas, the card flashers had trouble pulling the display off with anything remotely resembling precision and eventually quit, laughing all the while.
Chantal had all the backing he needed from his parents, who stood side by side with other Floyd County wrestlers (and a few from Radford) as close to the mat as meet officials would allow. The parents weren't the rah-rah types, but you could tell they were heavily into the proceedings by their leaning, shifting body English that seemed to mirror the action on the mat.
Kamal Chantal whipped tattooed B.J. Query of King William 5-1 to cap an extraordinary run in the sport.
``I didn't even know that my school had a wrestling team until halfway through my eighth-grade year,'' he said. ``Winning today feels a whole lot better than I thought it would.''
UNDERWEIGHT, NOT UNDERQUALIFIED:Scott Holleman of Shawsville came into the 171-pound final against Scott Bowers of Strasburg weighing about 3 pounds under the limit.
Was he concerned about giving away the extra pounds? Hardly.
``I was confident the whole time,'' Holleman said.
The confidence was not at all out of place, as Holleman demonstrated emphatically by plastering Bowers for the championship.
``This is what five hard years will get you,'' Holleman said.
Holleman finished the season undefeated.
AIRBORNE: Kevin Murphy wrestled at 145 for Radford a few years back, but had never been to a state tournament until this one.
Murphy was on hand to watch his brother, Radford's Stephen Murphy, paste Shawn Brown of James River 9-2 for the 125-pound championship.
Kevin Murphy had flown in from California especially for the occasion.
``I think he was pretty excited about this,'' Stephen Murphy said.
What ever gave him that idea?
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. 1. Floyd County's Kamal Chantalby CNB(above) reacts to beating an opponent during Saturday's Group A
state championships. 2. Scott Holleman of Shawsville (on top in
photo at left) has Jon Pollock of Riverhead on the mat during
Saturday's action from the Salem Civic Center. color.