By GEORGE PORTER - The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- Parkersburg South in Class AAA and Oak Glen in Class AA-A are poised to defend their titles when the West Virginia High School Wrestling Tournament begins today at the Huntington Civic Arena.
But, a lot of work was done before the wrestlers can get on the mats.
The field of 446 athletes from 73 schools will compete on eight different mats that were borrowed from five area schools and installed Wednesday afternoon. Huntington, Cabell Midland and Chesapeake, Ohio, high schools each provided two mats. The others came from Cammack and West middle schools.
Huntington coach Bill Archer, tournament director for the 14th year, said this year�s preparations were actually a little bit easier.
"With the Huntington Blizzard hockey team not here anymore, it makes it easier to set up things with the ice not on the floor," Archer said. "In the past, we had to put plywood on top of the ice. The wood usually would warp which would make the mats warp too. We shouldn�t have that problem this year."
It was a busy day for Huntington assistant coach John Dempsey and his work crew of 10 students.
At about 8 a.m. they set out in a truck picking up and delivering all the mats, scoreboards and anything else needed for the tournament.
"Once we got started, we were finished setting up everything at around 3 p.m.," Dempsey said.
When the work was completed, the Huntington Highlanders had a light afternoon workout on the mats.
Huntington qualified 12 of its wrestlers in Class AAA, the most of any area school. Point Pleasant (11), Cabell Midland (9), Logan (5), Hurricane (3) and Spring Valley (2) also have wrestlers in the tournament.
In Class AA-A the field includes Wahama with six wrestlers and Winfield with two.
Although the ice has been removed, the arena has the look of a coliseum with the hockey barriers still in place around the main floor.
The Civic Center will provide the concessions for the fans, but Archer said more than $8,000 worth of food will be brought in over the next three days to stock a hospitality room for officials, sponsors and the media.
Attendance for the early sessions is typically about 1,500 and grows to about 6,000 as the three-day event draws to its conclusion Saturday night.
With the wrestlers, coaches and 123 volunteer workers more than 1,000 people will be involved in some way.
Jerry Trembush, assistant executive secretary of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, watched Wednesday afternoon as the finishing touches were applied.
Trembush praised Archer and his staff for the job they do.
"It feels good
to be in a city that makes you feel wanted," he said.