By:  Skip Parker

With 2 successive years of massive talent loss to graduation transfers, this year’s team faces a real up-hill battle to stay at the top of AAA wrestling in Virginia.  Still, this team, while young and inexperienced, is very well coached.  Below are the wrestlers I believe will start, but none of this has been corroborated with the coaches. 

103. Austin Hurst (Freshman).  Austin may be the biggest surprise for fans and wrestlers who did not follow the middle-school wrestling competitions.  Austin is a 2X Middle School State Champion and a very impressive one.  The pre-season state rankings list him as 3^rd among the state’s lightest high school wrestlers and 1^st in Hampton Roads.  He is also nationally ranked as honorable mention by Wrestling USA magazine at 103lbs.  Look for him to walk point on the front end of the order and score well against all opposition.

112.  Taylor Wilde (Senior).  This is Taylor’s 2^nd year as a starter.  He finished 4^th in the District tournament and 7^th in the Region in the 2006-07 season.  Taylor is a very scrappy wrestler who loves this sport.  He is capable of turning the tables quickly and has done that on more than one occasion to unsuspecting opponents who would see their leads evaporate as Taylor cranked up the intensity.  He’s got a lot of heart and should have an excellent season.

112.  Johnny McClanahan (Freshman).  Honestly, I don’t know much about Johnny, but I’m guessing he’s one of those superb Great Bridge middle school wrestlers just entering high school this year.  While that transition will be incredibly difficult, Johnny will adjust and make a very good account of himself.  I was very impressed with his performance in the Granby Kickoff Classic.

119.  Garrett Haas (Senior). Garrett started his freshman season with Indian River.  He wrestled in one of the toughest weight classes in the state his freshman year.  Part of the reason it was so tough is because the state 3^rd and 4^th place winners were in his district.  In spite of that, Garrett finished 4^th in the district tournament and qualified for competing in the East Region tournament.  There he was 2-2 losing only to the East District Champion, who was also 2-2, and the State Champion (Brian Wright, Kempsville).  In his sophomore year, Garrett swept the district en route to winning the title.  In the East Regional tournament his only losses were the 2^nd and 4^th place winners.  Both were extremely close decisions.  In his junior year, Garrett won the district, placed 3^rd in the East Regional Tournament and represented the team in the state tournament.  This season, Garrett is one of the seasoned veterans, upon whom the team will depend heavily.  The state preseason state rankings have him listed as 4^th in his weight class.  He should have an excellent year.

125. Chris Mansfield (Freshman).  Chris is another of those precocious freshmen that will be the nucleus of this team for years to come.  He’ll get a lot of mat time this year.

130. Donnie Andrews (Senior).  I have no information on Donnie.  There aren’t many people in the line-up who wrestle 130, so I’m guessing that he’ll get plenty of varsity competition this season.  Time will tell how well he settles into this weight class.  One thing is certain.  He’ll have a lot of folks pulling for him to do very well this season.

135. Gary Ables (Junior).  Gary is like so many Great Bridge wrestlers in the past.  He has 1 year of varsity wrestling under his belt and the next thing you know, he’s pegging the meter for wrestling skills.  Last year he was the SE District Runner up and placed 5th in the East Regional tournament.  This year, because of his varsity experience and considerable wrestling skills, he is one of the leaders on the team. 

140.  Louis Johnson (Senior). Louis was the Southeast District Champion last season when he wrestled at Oscar Smith.  He also won the East Regional championship at 145 pounds and finished 4^th in the State Tournament.  He’s a solid blue-chip wrestler and will score well regardless of the level of competition.   To the knowledgeable observer, Louis forms the second leg of a juggernaut that rolls continuously from 135 to 189.  The team is fortunate to have him and the fans are happy he’s there to strengthen the line-up.

 145.  Joey Grainger (Sophomore) – Joey was a starter his freshman year and did pretty well.  He was the Southeast District Champ, East Regional Runner-up, and finished 4th in State.  In the Pre- Season State Rankings he’s 2nd.  Joey is also nationally ranked after winning the Freshman Nationals in Virginia Beach.  This wrestler provides a lot of verbal encouragement to his teammates and really gets the job done on the mat.  He will expect a lot more of himself than any of us fans will.  When he’s out there on the mat, he gives 6 minutes of non-stop intensity.  He is one of the most solid starters on the team.

152.  Cole Shields (Junior).  Cole showed very good skills last year at the Battlefield Duals and has gained some weight since then.  He has a lot of flexibility, but seems small to be wrestling 152.  Fortunately, Cole worked hard this past summer.  His wrestling skills have noticeably improved.  I don’t know if he or Snukis will start at 152, but whichever of the 2 it is, the Wildcats will be very well represented.

 160.  Jared King (Senior).  Jared is one of those guys, who just keeps getting better as he goes.  That fact was abundantly clear as he reached the state finals last season and nearly won the state title.  He is a 3x middle school state champion and is a National AAU Freestyle champion. For the past 2 seasons, he started in every event.  He started slowly, but by the end of the post-season, he had won the SE District title twice and finished second in the region in 2006 and won it in 2007 and made the State Finals twice.  Jared placed in both the Ironman and the Beast of the East last season.  He’s more than tough.  His skills seem to morph out of nowhere.  Because that’s true, he’s become an unpredictable and very dangerous opponent.  He will do well in competitions at all levels this year.  He is ranked the top Virginia wrestler in this weight class and is ranked nationally.

 171.  Billy Curling (Junior).  Billy’s untimely injury last year prevented him from perhaps going as far as he could have.  He is a middle-school champion and comes from great wrestling genes.  His dad was a state champion in the late 1980’s while wrestling for the green and gold.  Look for him to provide the team some real strength to a portion of the line-up that was devastated by graduation.  He is listed as 7^th in the Virginia pre-season rankings.  

189.  Alan Clamp (Junior).  Alan is a middle school state champion and had a very impressive showing last season. While he did not participate in post-season tournaments, he did defeat impressive foes during the regular season, not the least of which was a victory over 2x state AA champion, Andrew Clement (Christiansburg) in the Battlefield Duals.  Alan is an extraordinarily capable wrestler, but is kind of light to be wrestling at 189.  He is ranked 4^th in the pre-season among Virginia wrestlers in his weight class.

 215.  Jimmy Carter (Senior).  Fans probably didn’t expect to see the namesake of an ex-president and ex-Georgia peanut farmer wrestling for Great Bridge, but with the massive exodus of seniors at the top end of the order lost to graduation, Coach Smith was pretty desperate.  Jimmy is not a seasoned veteran.  He’s new at this sport and has to learn a lot real fast.  This is a tough weight class to do that and a tough schedule to negotiate, but he’ll get a lot of excellent coaching and a lot of encouragement from Wildcat fans. 

 Hwt.  Jake Gibson (Junior).  I waited until after the Granby Classic to write something about Jake, since I really had no information on him other than I was told that this is his first year of wrestling.  Jake pinned an early opponent in the Granby Classic and my thought was, “this guy is not a space filler, he’s got real potential”.  No one can step in their first year of this sport and be expected to light up the wrestling world, but Jake is going to win his share of bouts at heavyweight. 

This is going to be an interesting season.  The Wildcats will be tested both in local and in national competitions.  Good Luck, Gang.  I’ll see you matside.

  

Skip Parker