By Wayne Bennett
The long offseason for wrestling has ended, and young grapplers are spending time getting ready for the upcoming competition.
A few events happened during the warmer months that had positive or negative effects on the wrestling community.
On the negative side, we lost legendary coaches Dix Manning and Vic Peelish. Both passed away in August. As we said before, the wrestling world lost some great ones in those two.
Also, C.E. Stroud died this fall. He had coached in the Rainelle area at various levels. He was also a huge booster for athletics at Greenbrier West High School and Western Greenbrier Middle School. For me personally, C.E. was always so cooperative when it came to promoting wrestling. Cooperative, but not afraid to speak his mind. He will be missed.
On a positive note, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame chose an excellent group of new inductees in October. James St. Clair, Dale Hinkle, Joe Naternicola, Bill Van Horne, Ernie Sparks, Alex Skirpan and Russ Ward were inducted at a ceremony in Charleston. Congratulations!
Here are a few other positive features:
(1) Area youth wrestling has also started. President Anthony Murdock says the league has grown enough to have two divisions, Southern and Central.
(2) Trap Hill Middle School’s new coach is Matt Epling. Matt had previously coached at Park Middle School and in the youth program. Bill Wood is the new head coach at Independence Middle School. Wood coached at Indy several years ago. Welcome back, guys!
(3) Former Liberty wrestler Mike Carpenter, now wrestling at West Liberty State, started the season by upsetting Pitt-Johnstown’s Chris Dempsey. Wrestling as a heavyweight, Carpenter beat Dempsey 3-2. Dempsey was the sixth-ranked heavyweight in NCAA Division II. Carpenter’s former Raider teammate Nick Hylton wrestles for the U.S. Naval Academy.
(4) Once again, Jamie Humphrey, with a host of volunteers, showcases southern West Virginia with his Friends of Coal Classic.
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Competition will begin hot and heavy for local teams Saturday. Shady Spring High School will host the BNI Tournament. About 10 teams are expected for this bracket-style tournament. Wrestling will begin at 10 a.m.
The second annual Wayne Bennett Duals will be held at Park Middle School on Saturday. Along with Park, the teams participating are Christiansburg, Va., Eastern Greenbrier, Summersville, Collins and Cedar Grove. Wrestling will begin at 9 a.m.
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Well, we have taken the old water bottle off the shelf for another year, dusted it off and filled it up. Our first squeeze of the water bottle goes to Tina Nelson of Coal City. She’s a big wrestling fan and an avid reader of this column.
