Manassas Park Cougars regain wrestling crown in Group A

By Brian Hunsicker

Published: March 8, 2008

SALEM—Back when the matches didn't mean much, Manassas Park was working toward a goal for when they did. The memory of a second-place finish in last year's Group A tour-nament was still on everyone's mind, especially coach Ward Hugh, who made sure his wrestlers remembered.

With the Cougars' fourth title in five years secured on Saturday night, those memories are just that. There's another championship to celebrate.

The Cougars had second-place Glenvar—the team that had defeated Manassas Park in last year's state tournament—beaten before the finals ever began, winning the 10th wrestling title in school history by better than 50 points over Glenvar.

In Group AA, Brentsville brought four wrestlers and placed three of them on the way to a top-10 finish. Nathan Watts, the Tigers' 215-pounder, held close to Courtland's Ryan Suth-erland before losing by pin in the third period.

During a slow first period which had multiple stoppages, Sutherland took control with a takedown; though he added few other points, Watts struggled to make any headway against Group AA's top-ranked 215-pounder. With just over a minute left, Sutherland held a 5-2 lead but ended the match early with a pin.

For Watts, the loss wasn't as devastating for some as it may have been for others. In his second year of wrestling, Watts said making a state final was beyond his expectations.

"I really surprised myself that I got to the finals," Watts said. "I left it all out there on the mat."

Manassas Park went 5-0 in the finals, and only one of the Cougar wrestlers was tested. Thien Tran, in the 103-pound final against Lancaster's Robert Wineland, worked to a strong sin-gle leg and turned that into a takedown. Tran was on his way: He added four nearfall points before the first period ended and never let Wineland get on the board, winning 13-0.

One match later, Maximo Gonzalez started just as quickly—he dove for the legs of Glen-var's Tyler Tate immediately after the first whistle—and kept adding takedowns and back points. Tate could only counter with one-point escapes as Gonzalez finished with an 18-6 victory, helping to erase the memory of last season, when Gonzalez lost in the state final.

"I know what it feels like to lose," he said.

At 160, junior Daniel McGillivray did what he had been doing the entire tournament: pin his oppo-nent. Ahead 2-1 in the first period, McGillivray threw an arm across the chest of Holston's Will Necessary and slammed him to the mat, all in one motion. Seconds later, the match was over; in his four state tournament matches, McGillivray spent a total of 4:07 on the mat.

Heavyweight Austin Wren's match was also over quickly: After giving up a reverse to Washington & Lee's Ian Houchin that tied the match early, Wren countered with a take-down straight into a pin 1:11 into the match.

The only match with any drama was at 215. Elmar Aparicio went into overtime against Randolph Henry's Chris Boyd because of a late stalling call against Aparicio that tied the affair. After a scoreless overtime, the match went to sudden death: Both wrestlers scored on escapes, leading the final period, when Aparicio broke free for the match-deciding escape.

Even for another year in which the finals were loaded with Cougar wrestlers, Hugh said the devel-opment of 125-pounder Guppy Higginbottom and 152-pounder Rob Howe—both of whom quali-fied for states—were important in securing the championship for Manassas Park. Both went 1-2, but both earned bonus points that contributed to the Cougars' effort.

Both will return next season, when the Cougars won't have to worry about winning back any state titles. As has happened often enough in recent years, they'll be defending a ti-tle.

"That loss sits with you all year long. The kids worked hard last year but ultimately didn't achieve what they wanted to achieve. It was another year until they had a chance at it again," Hugh said. "And coming in this year, it was something the kids were fo-cused on. And they knew we needed everybody to be pushing all season long, be healthy, ready to go and peaking at the right time."