THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080650
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
This Eastern Region Duals Championships just aren't what they're cracked up to be.
The idea is to bring the region's best wrestling teams together to determine who's really No. 1. But thanks to Great Bridge, we already know that going in.
The Wildcats' victory in the region duals Saturday was their fifth in a row, and each title seems to come easier than the one before. Consequently, other teams approach the event cautiously, with an eye toward staying healthy for the individual tournament season.
The Wildcats can hardly be blamed for taking care of business so thoroughly. And Great Bridge's sizeable following ensures the tournament a decent crowd no matter how clear-cut the eventual outcome. But for many area fans, Great Bridge's dominance leaves no compelling reason to turn out for this tournament.
Nor is it just fans who are having trouble getting excited about these duals. Some of the teams seem to have clearly put this event on a second tier, well below the upcoming individual tournaments.
Denbigh, for example, took the mat for its quarterfinal match against Maury without three of its best wrestlers. One suffered from a knee injury, although he planned to ``gut it out'' for the Peninsula District tournament. Another Patriot sat out because he couldn't make weight.
Couldn't make weight? For a regional tournament?
Tallwood, which didn't get its entire team healthy until the middle of January, fielded a substitute-laden squad for its quarterfinal against Great Bridge. The following day, Lake Taylor held out its top-ranked 130-pounder against the Wildcats. Even the Wildcats took to sending members of their B team in against the outmanned competition.
The only thing that wasn't diluted was the price spectators had to pay. The three-round tournament was broken into three separate sessions - at $5 per ticket for each session - an unnecessary gouge considering the Group AAA state duals championships stuff the same amount of wrestling into two sessions.
So what can be done to spice up the region duals? Here's one suggestion. Schedule the first two rounds on Friday, the final on Saturday afternoon. Then, on Saturday night, let the champion wrestle an all-star team of area wrestlers.
This would allow organizers to keep their precious three sessions. In fact, revenue would probably increase, because only fans with a rooting interest in one of the finalists bothers to turn out for the final session now. With an all-star dual, people would probably come from miles around to see the best meet the best.
Wrestlers for the all-star team could be selected based on the rankings of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, with adjustments for Peninsula wrestlers. Don't like the newspaper poll? Then let a panel of coaches decide.
Either way, adopting the all-star format would add considerable zest to a tournament badly in need of some.
ACADEMY MOVES ON: Norfolk Academy, fresh off capturing its third consecutive Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools title, heads for Woodberry Forest Saturday for the Virginia Prep League Championships.
No one expects the Bulldogs to win this one, however. Not even the Bulldogs.
``If we finish better than fifth, we've done our job,'' Norfolk Academy coach Dave Lindhjem said.
The Bulldogs finished fifth in the nine-team league during the regular season.
Woodberry Forest, which has won every Prep League title since 1981, is the overwhelming favorite to repeat. That team lost just two matches in pounding Norfolk Academy in a regular-season dual.
While a team title is probably out of the question, the Bulldogs head into the one-day event with potential champions at 103, with Ryan Ingram, and at 112 with Clay Weisburg. Both wrestlers are 22-1.
Ingram's one loss came when he defaulted after having a tooth knocked out. According to Lindhjem, Ingram's head collided with his opponent's while the Norfolk Academy wrestler was applying a front headlock, dislodging the tooth. Ingram released his headlock, tossed the tooth to the sideline, then reapplied the headlock and rolled his man into a cradle. The first period expired before Ingram could get the pin.
Lindjem said Ingram wanted to continue, but the wrestler's father, a dentist, was in attendance and took his son to have the tooth re-inserted.
Other Norfolk Academy wrestlers who could place in Saturday's tournament include team captain and TCIS tournament MVP Ryan Smith (145), Luke Lindhjem (119), Nadim Nasr (160) and Josh Raper (135).
Saturday, Raper, a sophomore, became the second TCIS wrestler ever to win four titles. John Daman of Catholic won his fourth in 1992. by CNB