Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990 TAG: 9004041199
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
For just the second time in seven years it has happened in wrestling. The only other time came in volleyball when William Byrd's Jenny Mitchell and Salem's Dee Craft tied for player-of-the-year honors in 1987.
It is hard to distinguish between Martinsville's Stacy Stockton (130 pounds) and Christiansburg's Jeff Stanley (189 pounds) when it comes to determining the Timesland wrestler who had the most outstanding 1989-90 season.
Both went unbeaten. They wound up as Group AA champions, which wasn't easy considering that Grundy has dominated this division in wrestling like no other high school has dominated any sport in Virginia in recent years.
Even as Stockton and Stanley shared the Timesland wrestler-of-the-year award, they had competition from Chilhowie's Brian Nunley (160 pounds), who in other years would have been the winner of this award.
Nunley hasn't been beaten since he was a sophomore. He's won back-to-back Group A championships and the only knock against him is that he wrestles in a class that has the least amount of competition.
Christiansburg's Dean Underwood is the Timesland coach of the year. His Blue Demons regularly dominate the New River District, in which they haven't lost a dual meet in years.
Christiansburg always runs into Grundy in the Region IV tournament. This year, the Blue Demons finished second to Grundy once again and wound up fourth in the Group AA team standings for the highest finish of any Timesland team in state competition.
Martinsville, Christiansburg and Franklin County each placed two wrestlers on the All-Timesland first team. Lemart Stockton (119) joins brother Stacy on the team while Namo Tanaka (145) is the other Blue Demon on the first team.
Franklin County is represented by Scott Southall (112) and Raymond James (171). Both Stocktons, Tanaka and James are repeat selections.
Martinsville's Bob Herndon (103), who was a first team selection last year, was edged out this year by unbeaten junior Jamie Soltis of Glenvar.
The deciding factor came down to a match both had against Christiansburg's Tim Nininger. Soltis beat the Blue Demon 9-3 while Herndon edged Nininger 3-2. Both Nininger and Herndon seemed to be even as they were pinned by Grundy's Shane Bowman in times that were within five seconds of each other.
The other tough decision came at 160, where Nunley beat out Cave Spring senior Lee Childs. Childs lost in the Group AAA Northwestern Region finals, but then stormed back to finish second in the Group AAA tournament, which is considered a major feat for any Roanoke Valley District wrestler.
Childs avenged three of the five losses he had during the season, but finally lost in the finals to an opponent who was 35-0 with 30 pins.
The rest of the team includes Cave Spring's Adam Williams (125), Radford's Scott Morgan (135), Pulaski County's Channing Powers (140), Marion's Rusty Cox (152) and Magna Vista's Todd Applegate (heavyweight).
Stacy Stockton started wrestling in seventh grade when Martinsville coach Spencer Chang saw him in a physical education class. "I thought he was just a skinny little kid, but he's really worked hard. He's really had a great attitude," said Chang.
Stockton, for all his success, wrestles at a school that is used to winning state football and basketball championships. He gets little respect.
"They [the fans and students] don't give me as much attention as I'd like. But this was a good year. I accomplished the goal I had for this year, to win the state title," said Stockton.
Stockton said being unbeaten wasn't a goal at first. "But it turned into one [near the end]. Until then, [staying unbeaten] was a matter of it happening by chance."
Stanley was an outstanding football player who gained more than 1,000 yards as a tailback for the Demons. But he says wrestling is his favorite sport and he hopes to land a partial scholarship to college in that sport.
"His father and I were pretty good friends. His dad took him all around to tournaments and by the time he was in eighth grade, he was practicing on the varsity with us," said Underwood.
"I went out for basketball when I was in fifth grade, but I didn't like it," recalls Stanley about his early athletic career.
Stanley has talked to Virginia Tech about going there to wrestle and possibly walking on for football as a sophomore.
For all of Underwood's strong teams, he says this was the best any of them have done in the state.
"Even then, I was a little disappointed. I thought we should have finished second."
Christiansburg won the New River District meet by more than 100 points over runnerup Carroll County. The Blue Demons scored 189 1/2 points in the Region IV meet, though that was more than 100 behind Grundy. Christiansburg was only 11 points out of second in the Group AA meet.
Other All-Timesland highlights: Southall was Big Orange champ and Northwestern region runnerup at 112; Lemart Stockton lost the Group AA championship by a point at 119 after winning the Big Orange; Williams was unbeaten in the regular season and qualified for the Group AAA tournament at 125; Morgan wound up fourth in Group AA after winning the Region IV title at 135; Powers was the only Roanoke Valley District wrestler to win a Northwestern Region title as he won at 140; Tanaka was third in Region IV at 145; Cox was fourth in Group AA at 152; James overcame injuries that hurt him in the Northwestern Region to finish second in Group AAA at 171; and Applegate lost his bid for an unbeaten season in the state meet.
by CNB