THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995 TAG: 9512020694
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
You have to give the Great Bridge wrestling team credit. Everyone expects the Wildcats to win their sixth straight Group AAA state title. Heck, they expect it, too. Just ask them.
But the Wildcats refuse to take the easy road. They've loaded up their their schedule with heavyweights from throughout the state and beyond, seemingly determined to put their No. 10 national ranking on the line whenever possible.
Their first big test comes today, when they join 18 other teams in the fifth annual Norfolk Sports Club/Titan Kickoff Classic at Lake Taylor. The Classic, which has developed into perhaps the top event of its kind in the state, annually features most of Virginia's wrestling powers. This year, six of the top 10 finishers at last year's Group AAA state championships will be on hand, along with Group AA state runner-up Poquoson and Group A champion Northampton.
The day-long affair features 21 matches, with action beginning at 10 a.m. Great Bridge will open its power-packed slate with matches against Peninsula District champion Denbigh, Beach District favorite Tallwood and state runner-up Franklin County.
Down the road, the Wildcats will put their national ranking on the line against No. 14 Grundy on Dec. 16 in a match so eagerly anticipated its been moved to the larger Oscar Smith gym.
Also on the Great Bridge schedule: the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Classic and the new and improved Virginia Duals, now a 16-team national tournament featuring perennial Pennsylvania power Nazareth.
Competition like this generally has the Wildcats ultra-sharp come team regional and state tournament time. Ironically, however, Great Bridge's wrestling all-comers could also pay off for the area's other top wrestlers.
The Wildcats place a lot of emphasis on team honors, which has left some of their wrestlers a little flat for the individual tournament campaign. Great Bridge had no individual champions two years ago; just two last year.
One of those champions, Carl Perry, returns after an 41-0 season, a University of Illinois scholarship and All-America status. He may not lose a match this year, either.
The other returning champion, Tallwood's Mike Mercado, lost just once a year ago.
Perry and Mercado each were state runners-up the year before the captured the crown. Second-place finishers in 1994 looking to make a similar jump include Churchland's Orlando Morton, a transfer from Maury, Granby's Chris Martin and Western Branch's Sean Sanderlin.
Sanderlin, a senior, will lead a young but talented Bruins team that looks like one of only two that may be able to at least stay in a match with Great Bridge. The other is Tallwood, where the Lions have been steadily building toward elite status the past few years.
Then again, the Lions have enough to worry about just getting past Cox, Kempsville and surging First Colonial in the Beach District. And Lake Taylor's two-year reign as Eastern District champion could be placed in jeopardy by an improved Granby or even a late-charging Maury. The Commodores have a new coach - Ray Baldwin - and something a lot of teams don't - a quality 215-pounder (Steve Bruner).
The new 215-pound class, moving the total bouts per match to 14, was viewed as an acceptable alternative to an earlier proposal which would have eliminated one of the middle weight classes. Problem is, a lot of teams have had trouble finding just one big guy. Now they've got to come up with two. Look for teams to be starting a lot of matches six points down.
Of course, Great Bridge has a 215-pounder. by CNB