THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412170431
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
To the surprise of no one, top-ranked Great Bridge rolled up a huge lead after one day of the Newport News Invitational on Friday at Menchville High School.
The Wildcats racked up 86 1/2 points, 29 1/2 more than anyone else in the 12-team field, and have a wrestler in every semifinal except the heavyweight division.
The Wildcats' semifinalists include Joey Guth, the 171-pounder who received a forfeit in the middle of his quarterfinal match when it was discovered that he was wrestling a 189-pounder.
The surprise is who's in second place. Kempsville, a team which seemed to be headed for a rocky season after some of its top wrestlers didn't come out for the team, seized a three-point lead over third-place Atlee (57-54).
The Chiefs have four semifinalists, including third-ranked 171-pounder Kris Poston and heavyweight Kevin Eaton, who pinned Great Bridge's Shawn Curl.
Also in the second-place hunt is Lake Taylor, currently fourth with 48 1/2 points. The Titans have seven semifinalists, including second-ranked heavyweight Brad Vera.
But Titans' top-ranked 135-pounder Joel Jimenez didn't make it past the first round. The victim of a terrible draw, Jimenez, who won this tournament at 125 last year and was top-seeded Friday, fell to Hampton's Randy Devlin, who placed sixth in the state last year.
The early matchup of perhaps the two best wrestlers in the division occurred because Hampton didn't supply any information about Devlin's wrestling history. The tournament director didn't know who he was, so Devlin wasn't seeded.
The Titans won this tournament last year, but with Great Bridge in the field, a repeat appears highly unlikely.
Rounding out the field is Denbigh (44 points), Menchville (37), Mills Godwin (34 1/2), Warwick (29 1/2), Ferguson (26), York (25), Kecoughtan (22) and Hampton (16).
The tournament resumes today with the semifinals at noon. The finals will begin between 3 and 4 p.m. by CNB