THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 1, 1996 TAG: 9607010127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 61 lines
Wrestler Brian Jones went through his pre-match antics at the Pavilion on Sunday.
He put on two sweat shirts, paced alongside the mat and then worked on intimidating the opponent: his arms flailing, his neck moving side to side and the eyes staring straight ahead.
``It also clears your mind and helps you concentrate,'' Jones said of his rituals.
So finally, down to business.
Facing Kent Nagy in the 119-125-pound division of freestyle wrestling in the final day of the Virginia State Games, Jones won 9-0. However, the 120-pound grappler was not overly impressed with the effort.
``In every match, no matter how good the opponent is, you want to totally dominate the match,'' the Granby High graduate said.
For Jones, wrestling is serious business - or at least it is now.
When Jones moved to Norfolk from Brooklyn, N.Y., in the sixth grade, he was looking for someone to play basketball with after school. Instead, his cousins and new friends were into wrestling.
Initially, the thought of rolling around with other guys while wearing tights turned Jones off. But eventually, his peers were able to change his misconceptions of the sport.
``After the first couple of days, I got hooked,'' said Jones, 18. ``It's almost like a drug.''
Giving into peer pressure in this instance was definitely a good choice for Jones. He will wrestle for the University of Maryland this fall. He will also wrestle at the Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D., which begin next week. And his intent in Fargo will be the same as ever - intimidating the opposition.
``I am going to put you 6 feet under,'' he taunts Bethel High wrestler Jason Sigler.
But Sigler just grins and pays Jones little attention.
``All that talk beforehand is just playing around,'' Sigler said.
Coming off of a loss to Jason Gabrielson, though, Jones made sure he delivered on his promise to Sigler.
Jones tackled, chased after and fought off Sigler for an 11-0 win. And this time, he was impressed.
``I was tired going into the match because I just had two hard matches,'' Jones said. ``But at the end, he turned up the intensity . . . which made me turn up the intensity.''
And his routines following a match: slinging his results on the scorers' table, talking to his buddies, and then resting on the mat near his belongings: a blue and black bag filled with clothes, shoes and a white teddy bear sticking half way out.
The bear sports a State Games gold medal that Jones won Saturday in folkstyle wrestling.
``The bear - my girlfriend gave it to me because she couldn't be here,'' Jones said. ``I put it (the medal) around the bear's neck because I won it for her.'' ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER
Brian Jones, right, was on the offense from the outset in his 11-0
freestyle wresting win over Jason Sigler in the Virginia State
Games. by CNB