THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 24, 1994 TAG: 9412240469
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Fourth-ranked Lake Taylor kicked off the holiday season in style Friday by winning the inaugural South Norfolk Holiday Wrestling Tournament Friday at Oscar Smith High.
But don't expect the Titans to let the celebrating get out of hand.
``We've still got a whole season to go,'' said Lake Taylor's Tremaine Baker, who finished second at 119. ``We've still got a whole lot of stuff to work on.''
Davis was one of eight Titans to reach the finals of the nine-team, one-day tournament. Three came away champions as Lake Taylor, the highest ranked team in the field, amassed 173 points, 18 more than second-place Granby. The seventh-ranked Comets also finished with three champions.
Eighth-ranked Oscar Smith, which went into the finals tied with the Comets in second place, wound up third with 143 points. Maury (126) and Princess Anne rounded out the top five.
Lake Taylor's champions were second-ranked Joel Jimenez (130), second-ranked Brad Vera (275) and Donnie Jimenez (112), who outdueled Granby's Reuben Waites in perhaps the evening's most entertaining final.
Donnie Jimenez ran up a 7-1 lead before Waites slammed him to the mat on his head, forcing an injury timeout. The match resumed, and while Jimenez was trying to clear his head, Waites used his and seized control.
A Waites escape with 11 seconds remaining in the third period tied the match at seven. In overtime, however, Jimenez scored a quick takedown for the deciding points.
``But I still have a headache,'' Jimenez said.
Second-ranked Reuben Dio (103 pounds), third-ranked Chris Martin (135 pounds) and third-ranked William Thornton won titles for Granby.
Churchland's Tiree Murphy was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler. Murphy cruised to three victories Friday, including a 20-9 whipping of Lake Taylor's Lionel Davis in the 125-pound final.
Like Lake Taylor, however, Murphy was quick to put his performance in perspective.
``I thought I did pretty good, but there's still a lot of room for improvement,'' he said.
Princess Anne and Oscar Smith each finished with two individual champions. For the Cavaliers, Derek Meyer (11-2) decisioned Lake Taylor's Kenny Hessler at 145 and second-ranked Bobby Julian (11-0) pinned Maury's Leroy Barbour at 160. For the Tigers, second-ranked Cameron Midgett (13-0) pinned Maury's Lewis Wallace in the 140-pound final and third-ranked Anwar Sparrow (13-0) topped Lake Taylor's Alan Hyman.
In the other two finals, Monocan's Robbie Stone (15-0) topped Baker at 119 and Maury's Nathan Mansfield pinned Bayside's Wes Kandare at 152. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI, Staff
Granby's Tripp Nofplot, top, works on Lake Taylor's Joel Jimenez,
but Jimenez won the 130-pound South Norfolk final.
by CNB