The Herald-Dispatch
POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. -- Huntington High seeks to defend its title today in the West Virginia Class AAA Region III wrestling tournament at Point Pleasant High School.
"We�ll try to win it and try to qualify everybody on the team," Highlanders coach Bill Archer said Friday after practice.
Action in the 10-team tournament begins at 11 a.m. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the State Tournament scheduled Feb. 21-23 at the Huntington Civic Arena.
Huntington High has dominated this regional since the early 1960s. The Highlanders (Pony Express prior to consolidation) have won 24 regional titles since 1964. Under Archer, they have won 21 of the last 30.
Huntington has been off since Feb. 7 when it won a tri-match against Independence and Beckley at Independence. During the season, the Highlanders were 23-1 in duals and won all but one tournament. They were runner-up to Parkersburg in the Mountain State Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Highlanders
feature eight freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup. They also
have two unbeaten performers in seniors Robbie Williams at 130 pound and
Jason Mays at 160. Another key performer is Steve Riner at 112.
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Nitro and
Point Pleasant figure to be the chief threats to Huntington.
Nitro has four wrestlers favored to win their weight class -- Anthony Easter (32-0) at 103, Matt Easter (35-0) at 119, Jacob Frerichs (35-1) at 125 and Mitch Casto (33-1) at 152. Robbie Ripley (25-2 at 140) is out with a knee injury.
Point Pleasant is coming off a runner-up finish to Marietta (174.5-171) in the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League Championships last Saturday at Jackson. The Big Blacks had four champions and two runners-up.
Winners were Jason McCoy at 125, Nick Duncan at 135, Jesse Nott at 140 and D.J. DeWees at 145. Taking second were Matt Warner at 152 and Jacob Carr at 171.
Cabell Midland�s Chris Gibbs (140) and heavyweight Mark Childers are favored in their weight classes.
Also competing are Spring Valley, George Washington, Hurricane, Logan, Riverside and St. Albans.
In other Class AAA regionals, Parkersburg is host for Region I, Fairmont Senior for Region II and Roane County for Region IV.
Hosts for Class
AA-A regionals are Cameron (I), Braxton County (II), Ritchie County (III)
and Independence (IV).