DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997                TAG: 9704080477

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   35 lines

COX WRESTLER IS NAMED ALL-AMERICAN AT TOURNEY

Cox's Pierre Pryor was the only Virginian to earn all-American status with a third-place finish in the National High School Wrestling Championships Saturday in Pittsburgh.

The tournament featured more than 500 wrestlers from 46 states. The top eight in each weight class were named all-Americans.

Pryor went 6-1 with three pins and two technical falls. His only loss was to two-time national Prep School champion Quinton Foster of Blair Academy in New Jersey 4-2 in the semifinals.

``I was thinking I was going to win it, but it still feels good,'' Pryor said.

Pryor, who went 41-0 in winning the state championship at 140 last winter, wrestled at 138 in Pittsburgh. He scored falls over a pair of two-time state champs from North Dakota and Georgia and defeated state champs from Oklahoma and Maryland by technical fall. His only victory by decision came in the consolation finals against an opponent from Nazareth, Pa.

``I told Pierre a lot of Virginia (colleges) wanted him, but if he could place in the top three, like Byron Tucker did, everybody would want him,'' Cox coach Joe Boone said. ``It's amazing what this opened up for him.''

Oklahoma, Indiana, Iowa State, North Carolina and Rider are some of the schools that began recruiting Pryor in Pittsburgh, Boone.

Other Virginians who won more than one match were Gloucester's Joey Legg and First Colonial's Jason and Jeff Bernd. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Pierre Pryor went 6-1 to take third place at the National High

School Wrestling Championships at 138 pounds.

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