Junior Raekwon White, wrestling in the 220 pound class was 5-0. He was the only Fluco to come through the meet with an unblemished record. Dalton Wensel, who had an impressive season last year, wrestles at the other end of the weight spectrum. He came into this meet with an undefeated 6-0 record. Wrestling in the 120 pound class, Wensel was 4-1 to run his overall record to an impressive 10-1. Wensel is also a junior.
The Flucos performed well in this meet in the upper weight classes. In addition to White, Fluco juniors Donnie Wilson and Aaron Zimmerman both finished with records of 4-1. They wrestled at 182 and 195 respectively. Senior Remy Ward, wrestling in the 170 weight class posted a record of 3-2.
Overall the Fluco squad finished sixth out of the ten schools competing. This was
no doubt due in large part to the fact that the Flucos were forced to forfeit five of the weight classes. With a total of 14 weight classes it is not unusual for a team to have to forfeit in several of the weight classes, but it is hard to overcome a five weight class deficit. In this match, the Flucos moved up one place as compared to a prior ten team match at Waynesboro High School held on Dec. 7, where the squad finished seventh.
Coach Gore believes that he has some very promising freshman on the squad this season. The freshman include Ian Dillon, Ryan Dye, Zackary Hartzog, Mark Grooms who was a quarterback on the football squad, Will Lowe and Craig Russo. Hopefully, some of these young wrestlers will be able to break into the starting line-up at some time as the season progresses.
Last year, the Fluco wrestling squad under Coach Dean Hall, posted a 15-8 record, as it was led by Justin Zimmerman a state qualifier at 120 pounds, and a wrestling scholarship athlete. This season may be a rebuilding season, in light of the graduation of Zimmerman and several other strong wrestlers, but it appears that Coach Gore has good prospects going forward.
The Fluco wrestling team spends almost its entire season traveling to away meets. On Dec. 28 they wrestled at George Mason. On Jan. 4 they will be at Amelia County High School. On Jan. 8 they will be at Madison County High and on Jan. 11 at Albemarle. The only meet that the Fluco squad hosts all season long will be on Jan. 22 when they will take on Fork Union Military Academy, Monticello High School and Charlottesville High. That meet will start at 6 p.m.
