Tigers Place 8 at State Tournament

7th Overall, 8 Placers
Josh Trudgeon- 3rd, Duke Pickett- 1st (OW Middle Weights), Taylor Reuss- 3rd, Jeff Smith- 7th, Phil Rogers- 8th, Charlie Hilliard- 8th, Cary Jones- 4th, Chad Kolumber- 5th

The Tigers traveled to St. Christopher’s School in Richmond for the Virginia State Prep School Tournament. Things started well for the team, as thirteen wrestlers moved on to wrestle on the second day of the tournament. Nick Cirillo, Will Choate, and George Sutherland all picked up wins in their first State Tournament appearance. The tigers wrestled well on Saturday as well. Josh Trudgeon lost in the semi-finals, then came back to take third, avenging a loss from earlier this season in his third-place match.

Taylor Reuss also battled back from a tough semi-finals loss and won two key matches to take third. Jeff Smith had a solid performance, earning a takedown against the eventual state champion and national prep finalist in a quarterfinals loss, eventually placing seventh. Team co-captain Phil Rogers ended his Woodberry wrestling career on a high note, placing eighth in the tournament. Charlie Hilliard battled through an injured wrist and wrestled above his ninth-place seeding to take eighth, avenging Rogers Clark’s loss to Collegiate along the way. Cary Jones wrestled a good tournament, placing four and competing hard in his two losses. Chad Kolumber placed fifth, earning another win over St. Christopher’s and finishing the year undefeated against Prep League opponents. Duke Pickett came into the tournament seeded #1, and did not disappoint. Duke dominated all his opponents on the way to a state championship, and earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award. Because of his dominating performance, Duke earned the team’s weekly Hammer Award. Duke’s performance also earned him All-Prep honors. Overall at States, the team finished with eight placers, and finished seventh in the team standings only ten points out of fifth place.