Local heavyweights make mark at states

By Wayne Bennett
For The Register-Herald

March 01, 2008 11:35 pm

— Area wrestlers from Region 3 finished well in the state tournament. Our area saw some tough heavyweights all year long. State champion Mike Carpenter from Liberty, runner-up Adam Barnette of Independence and Richwood’s fifth-place winner, Shawn Murphy, wrestled each other all season, contributing most of the losses on each other’s record.
Throw in Beckley’s Nick Gwinn, who was fourth in Class AAA, and you have a bevy of great heavyweights from our area.
I think Carpenter benefited from workout partners like Zac Acord and Nick Hylton, the 189-pound state champion. Of course, Barnette benefited from having to deal daily with his coach, Jamie Bolen. Murphy is just one heck of an athlete.
Looking ahead to next year, it looks like Independence and Greenbrier West may be butting heads for the Region 3 team title. Independence returns Mike Prince (third), Jake Justice (third) and Mark Ward (third). West returns Jon Crane (sixth), Brian Gray (fourth) and Tyler Midkiff (fourth).
Liberty loses some quality points in Hylton and Carpenter, but may have enough balance returning to win the Coalfield Conference and regional tournaments. The Raiders also are getting some quality middle school wrestlers.
Oak Hill had enough balance to win this year’s regional title and could possibly repeat. Placewinner DeAngelo Castro will graduate, but Larry Dean is only a junior.
A couple other wrestlers who will return next year are Liberty’s Jacob Milam and Shady Spring’s Sonny Harrah. Both were state placewinners this year and should be ranked pretty high next year.
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With scholastic wrestling over, many wrestlers have set their sights on a few open tournaments. A couple of good tournaments nearby are the Rainelle Open March 8 and the Cliff Keen Eastern World March 21-22. The Cliff Keen tournament will be held in Charleston.
You will see a lot of interesting matchups in open tournaments.
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The West Virginia Junior tournament is a welcome sight in Beckley. A total of 872 wrestlers make for an interesting weekend.
Rick Dunbar and his crew from the Parkersburg area, along with our area volunteers, are to be commended for an outstanding job.
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It’s time to put the old water bottle back on the shelf until next season. A final squeeze goes to Randy Ferrill, Kenneth Holland and Thomas Godby, three fine young men who ended outstanding high school careers last Saturday.