Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 11, 1994 TAG: 9404110114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
There aren't many years when a heavyweight wrestler is going to be the tops in Timesland.
Some heavyweights are football players looking for a winter sport. They are often ponderous and not always the best athletes.
That's not the case with Northside's Richie Oliver.
Oliver's coach, Fred Wagner, called his 275-pounder an "overachiever."
Oliver, Wagner said, "hated to lose. With a lot of heavyweights, you have to watch them closely to see that they work out. You never had to watch Richie, because he never loafed."
Oliver was the only state champion in Timesland. He won the 275-pound class to wind up with a 34-1 record and is Timesland's Wrestler of the Year.
Wagner, in his fifth and final season as Northside's coach, also goes out a winner as the repeat Timesland Coach of the Year. The Vikings wound up third in the Group AA state tournament and won titles in the Region III, Blue Ridge District and Big Orange tournaments.
The All-Timesland team, which was picked based on consultation with coaches, toughness of competition and how well a wrestler did in tournaments and by record, was dominated by the Vikings with five first-team choices.
Mark Mast (119) and Oliver were the only senior All-Timesland performers for the Vikings. Clifton Dunford (125), Leland Keeling (130) and Chip Nininger (171) are all back next year to wrestle for the new Northside coach.
Cave Spring, William Fleming and Franklin County each placed two wrestlers on the All-Timesland team. Fleming's Eddie Jones (189) joined teammate Herbert Kasey (135) as All-Timesland, and it was these two who were Oliver's competition for Timesland Wrestler of the Year.
Cave Spring placed Scott Sallis (112) and John Richardson (160) on the team, and Franklin County is represented by Brian Saul (103) and Daniel Gearheart (140). The first team is rounded out by Lord Botetourt's Bobby Stewart (145) and William Byrd's Jason Hogan (152).
Oliver didn't expect to be Timesland's best.
"I started slowly, but I kept working hard," he said. "I improved a lot during the season."
Oliver set up his successful winter by working hard during the summer when he ran and lifted weights. He was going to play defensive tackle for Northside but was hurt in the second scrimmage and didn't play.
"Basically," said Oliver, "I'm a football player who likes to wrestle. I started wrestling in junior high, but I never thought I'd win the state."
Oliver lost only to a two-time Kentucky state champion in the Grundy Invitational.
"That made me a whole lot better," Oliver said. "I needed to get beat, get one loss before the tournaments. It showed me what I did wrong, what I'd have to do when I got up against the high caliber competition."
Whatever he did wrong, Oliver made an impression. Before the Group AA state tournament, Grundy wrestling coach Kevin Dresser predicted that Oliver was good enough to be the Vikings' only state champion.
Wagner's Northside team dropped one notch from last year's second-place finish in the state. Still, if you have to retire, it's nice to do so while your team is on top as Wagner chose to do.
"It really is tough. This [Timesland Coach of the Year] is an honor for me and a credit to the kids," Wagner said. "You're always out to wind up on a good note. I never counted on winning, but just the enjoyment of the job. Even when I lost, I still enjoyed the job."
After coaching five years, Wagner wants to return to graduate school and, hopefully, get back into football coaching, which is his first love. The Vikings won their last 56 dual meets under Wagner, and overall his teams went 64-5 with losses only to Heritage, Cave Spring, William Byrd, Alleghany and Christiansburg.
For William Fleming's Jones (189), his career came to a disappointing end because of a herniated disc in his neck. Jones lost for the first time in the Group AAA Northwestern Region dual and team meets. He passed up the state because of the injury.
For Kasey, there will be another year. He was one of two RVD wrestlers to place in the Group AAA state as he finished fourth.
The other was Franklin County's John Muse (160), who was a second-teamer behind Cave Spring's Richardson, who had two victories over Muse and had lost twice to Breon Crennel of E.C. Glass, who wound up third in the state.
That was just one of the tough decisions between the first and second teams. Shawsville's Alan Trout (103) and Parry McCluer's Jason Hamilton (125) lost in the Group A finals but had to settle for second team.
That's because Franklin County's Saul, despite a 17-9 record, won the tough Group AAA Northwestern Region title in 103 and won a first-round match in the Group AAA state tournament.
Northside's Dunford, in beating out Hamilton, was 34-2 and failed to do better than fifth in the Group AA because he faced, "a very tough draw," Dresser said. Dunford wound up in the same bracket as Park View-Sterling's Mark Hernandez, who had beaten him for the state championship in the 112-pound division last year.
Cave Spring's Sallis was fourth in the tough Northwestern Region and beat second-team All-Timesland Brad Hungate in the Big Orange title to settle the 112-pound class.
Northside's Mast and Nininger finished third in the Group AA state tournament, and Keeling was fourth as they joined Oliver and Dunford in leading Northside's high finish.
Franklin County's Gearheart edged William Byrd's Heath Brogan for the 140-pound spot in another close call that came down to coaches' opinion, toughness of schedule and Gearheart's advancement to the Group AAA state tournament. Brogan was fourth in the Group AA state meet.
Lord Botetourt's Stewart (145) was third in Group AA with a 6-1 victory over tough Forrest Holloway of team state runner-up Poquoson. Hogan (152) was second in the state when he was upset by Brookville's Corey Steuck, whom he had beaten two times in three matches including a pin in the Region III championship match.
Richardson (160) battled one of the toughest schedules to finish 25-3, including a Northwestern Region title. He was ranked by many coaches on a par with Kasey, Jones and Oliver as being one of Timesland's best.
Alleghany, a program that is getting tougher, leads the second team with three selections - Shane Davis (130), Scott Wright (145) and Tommy Hubbard (189). Other second-team choices are William Fleming's Mosi Coleman (119) and Nathan Rosser (152), William Byrd's Patrick Henderson (135), Rockbridge County's Jamie Campbell (171) and Salem heavyweight Dan Giarla, who wound up losing to Oliver for the fifth time in the state championship match.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***