Jim King sends the follow report on the Hidden Valley Youth Wrestlers:

Hidden Valley Youth Wrestlers participated in the 2009 Smith Mountain Lake Open Wrestling Tournament, held January 17, 2009 at Staunton River Middle School in Moneta.

Pee – Wee Division

John Alouf had another good weekend. He pined his first two opponents in the first period and the got a technical fall on the third in the third match and took home the gold medal.

Zachary Early (first year wrestler) pinned all of his opponents and walked away with the gold also. He wrestled in the 56-60 lb division against Jefferson Forest, Smith Mountain Lake and the Wahoo’s.

Lee Pritchard wrestled the 90-93 pound weight class with pins against opponents from Jefferson Forest, Glenvar and PRES Wrestling Club.

Wesley Stienspring (first year wrestler) won his second gold medal on the year by beating opponents from Smith Mountain Lake 10 – 7, by a medical forfeit from Liberty, and by pinning his last opponent, also a Smith Mountain Lake

Ross O’Bryan (first year wrestler) won this match (11 to 0 ) against a fellow Hidden Valley wrestler controlling his opponent to the mat with a double leg take down, front trip. Ross lost this match (6 to 8) in a sudden death finale, after countless efforts by both opponents; both wrestlers appeared evenly matched for the most part. A failed Russian roll by Ross put his opponent up by 2pts, but Ross fought back to tie it up with a reversal. The match was decided in his opponents favor after the “first take down wins” rule in sudden Death. In his 3rd match against a Jefferson Forest opponent, both wrestlers came to the mat ready for business, thru the 1st period until Ross was able to bring him to the mat with a heal block. The second period proved O’Bryan successful with a pin half way thru the round. Ross came out in second with the silver medal.

Nicholas McGuire placed 2nd in his weight –class division. Nick had to pins on the day with cradles over Liberty and Brookeville but had a loss o a Smith Mountain Lake opponent.

Josh Neighbors wrestled in the 67-69-weight class division. Hw won with pins against Smith Mountain Lake and Jefferson Forest Wrestling Clubs, but later he would lose by points to a Rural Retreat opponent to take home the silver medal.

Isaac Chitwood placed second after rebounding from an early round loss; Isaac went on to defeat opponents from Liberty and Smith Mountain Lake Wrestling Club.

Ikie Smith had two decisions in his inaugural tournament to place 2nd, and Allen Young also placed 2nd due to points

Kiel Cook received a bronze after pinning a Smith Mountain Lake opponent before suffering two losses.

Nick Brabham placed 4th

Middle School Division
Mason Dermont finished 3-0 and was unstoppable in his search for another gold medal in the middle school division at 89 lbs. Masson methodically sliced through the competition with precision and accuracy by pinning a Liberty Christian Academy and a Rural Retreat opponent and would later technical fall a Quick Pin opponent.

Justin McGuire placed 2nd with the wins coming from two pin victories. Justin’s loss on the day was a 4-2 defeat to a Jefferson Forest opponent.

In other action the same weekend two HV wrestlers were invited to wrestle in the Dale Duals in Chester, Va. Noah Bushman was assigned to wrestle for VA Predator (the overall team champion) at 88lbs. Noah went 5-1 on the day. He had two wins by default, pinned opponents from Byrd Metro and Dale Wrestling. In his other win Noah battled his way to a hard fought pin in the second period over a tough Delaware Hammer opponent. Ryan Eubank wrestled for VA Elite (3rd place team) he was 7-0 on the day and dominated the 85lb division. Ryan had 1 win by default and had wins over opponents from Dale Wrestling, Poquoson, Byrd Metro, North Chester, Colonial Heights, and Delaware Hammer. All of Ryan’s’ wins were by pin with no opponent making it through the 1st period. On Sunday Ryan wrestled with the VA Elite K-6 team in The Hurricane duals in Mebane, NC Ryan went 4-1 on the day. His first win was a 10-2 decision over a wrestler from Rowan County, NC. In his second win Ryan was leading 6-2 when his opponent had withdraw due to injury. His third win was by pin over an opponent from NC Wildcats. His 4th win was a war with a wrestler from Triangle Wrestling in Raleigh that he held on to win 7-5. Ryan lost his final match 8-2 to a wrestler from Pitbull wrestling.