THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412180243
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Great Bridge sent 13 wrestlers to the finals and ran up a tournament-record 273 points in breezing to the 12th annual Newport News Invitational wrestling title Saturday at Menchville High.
The top-ranked Wildcats finished with six individual champions in the two-day event and put a wrestler into the final of every class except heavyweight.
In the 125 final, Great Bridge's Carl Perry won by technical fall over teammate Eric Wernick.
The previous tournament high for points was 241. Great Bridge had 241 1/2 heading into the third-place matches.
It was far from a complete victory for the Wildcats, however. Top-ranked 135-pounder Aaron Beatson, second-ranked 145-pounder Michael Harper and second-ranked 152-pounder Christian Basnight were among the seven Wildcats who tasted defeat in the finals.
``Losses are good for you,'' Great Bridge coach Steve Martin said. ``We're going to evaluate some things and find our weak spots.
``The time to go down is now, not March.''
Fourth-ranked Lake Taylor nosed out Denbigh, 124-119 1/2, for second place.
The Patriots led by a point and a half heading into the heavyweight final, but Lake Taylor's second-ranked heavyweight Brad Vera's first-period pin of Kempsville's Kevin Eaton put the Titans on top.
Denbigh lost a chance to pad its lead at 171 when finalist Matt Stuffe sustained an injury during warmups and forfeited to Great Bridge's Joey Guth. It was the third forfeit in four matches for Guth, who in his only appearance on the mat upset Kempsville's third-ranked Kris Poston, 7-3, in the semifinals.
Kempsville, the only other South Hampton Roads team in the field, placed fourth with 111 points.
Top-ranked Aaron Anton (103), second-ranked Jimmy Hawthorne (119), top-ranked Billy Allred (160), and Josh Fannon (189) joined Perry and Guth as individual champions from Great Bridge. Hawthorne and Allred won their finals with first-period pins.
Donnie Jimenez of Lake Taylor held off Great Bridge's Bruce Fowler, 11-9, to win the 119-pound final.
At 130, Hampton's Randy Devlin, sixth in the state a year ago, topped the Wildcats' Travis Woodhouse, 14-5.
Another Crabber, Eric Thompson, then dispatched 1994 state runner-up Beatson, 11-6, to win the 135-pound final. So impressive was Thompson that he was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler.
In other finals: Ferguson's Lamarchie Smith pinned Great Bridge's Stacy Woodhouse at 140; Denbigh's David Messmer decisioned Harper at 145 and Denbigh's Aaron Martin nipped Basnight at 152. by CNB