THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501040146
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, SUN SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
WHEN NANSEMOND RIVER and Churchland hit the mats Friday afternoon, two of the area's top 125-pound wrestlers will be showcased.
Nansemond River's Thomas Merrill will take on Churchland's Tyree Murphy in the Warriors' first home meet of the season.
Although four teams are involved in Friday's event, it is not classified as a quad meet. VHSL rules allow just four scheduled quads per team, and Churchland already has reached that number so the Truckers are coming to Suffolk for a dual with the Warriors at 4:30. Northampton will take on Lakeland at approximately 6:00 p.m., and Northampton will wrestle Nansemond River at 7:30. The Warriors and Cavaliers will not meet until their duel on the 18th.
Merrill, who is 2-0 in district matches, has the Warriors' second-best overall record at 8-3. Murphy has the Truckers' best mark at 8-1 and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the South Norfolk Holiday tournament two weeks ago.
Several other high-powered matchups will occur later in the evening when Damon Hill (171 pounds) puts his 9-1 record up against Northampton's Greg Trower and Grayson Craun (145) takes on Yellow Jackets' standout Fred Ross.
The Warriors are 2-2 overall and 2-0 in the district. Seven of Dohey's wrestler's are 2-0 against district opponents - Thomas Merrill, Michael Merrill, Hill, Grayson Craun, Whitney Craun, Jason Goodrich and Sam Tapp.
That has all of them still in contention for a top seed in the region tournament, where Dohey hopes his wrestlers earn a spot in the state tournament.
``Due to the small AA area, we have a lot more non-district stuff on the schedule than district,'' Dohey said. ``Some of these guys will go into the region tournament having wrestled in 25 matches, but only six of them are district matches.''
Seeing a wide variety of competition can only work to the Warriors' advantage should they qualify for state.
``We wrestle teams from four different states,'' Dohey said. ``It helps to see all kinds of different wrestling. They might get used to a certain style in the district and when you get to state tournament you see a lot of different things, so I think it helps prepare them for state.''
One thing the Warriors are not used to seeing is a big crowd at their meets.
Dohey said they have gotten a little better each year, but Dohey and Lakeland coach Steven Wood got together last year and decided to have the teams meet during school hours.
When the Cavaliers and Warriors meet the 18th it will be at 1:30 in the afternoon at Lakeland.
``We did it last year, and we had a gym full of people,'' Dohey said. ``They were all cheering and making a lot of noise, I think everyone really had a lot of fun.''
Dohey and Wood got the idea from Southampton and Franklin, who have showcased their duals in a similar fashion for a couple of years.
``It gets us a lot more exposure,'' Dohey said. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
Nansemond River's Grayson Craun, rear, during a wrestling match last
year, will take on Northampton standout Fred Ross on Friday.
by CNB