THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602140137
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Great Bridge will be an overwhelming favorite to collect its 12th straight title when the Southeastern District tournament takes place Friday and Saturday at Great Bridge.
But the Wildcats will be hard-pressed to match last season's performance, when they finished with seven champions and a tournament-record 269 points. Top wrestlers appear to be spread more evenly among the league's eight teams this season. Last year, Western Branch and Great Bridge finished with 11 of 13 champions.
Wrestlers to watch include Oscar Smith's Gary Lewis (unbeaten this season at 112), Deep Creek's Doug Norris (second-ranked in the area at 189) and Nick Cuffee (No. 2 at 215) and Indian River's Keith Reynolds (140).
And then there's Churchland, which didn't have enough wrestlers to be any kind of a factor in dual meets but features a host of title contenders, including Orlando Morton (160), James Worrell (171), Mike Allen (152), Tiree Murphy (125) and Matt Scott (103).
Morton finished second in the state last year, but the 160-pound class, featuring Western Branch's Cory Bauswell, Great Bridge's Jason Byrum and Wilson's Steve Rahimpour, among others, could be this tournament's most competitive.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the Eastern Region tournament Feb. 22-24 at Churchland. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Bruce Fowler, right, of Great Bridge takes control of Gloucester
High's Antone Medeiros in December.
by CNB