There are well over 30 different active teams in the VISWA, and apparently 25 had placewinners this year!

Here are the results for the 2008 Virginia Independent Schools state wrestling tournament championships...

Team Scores:

1. St. Christopher’s: 312
2. Bishop O’Connell: 224.5
3. St. Stephen’s / St. Agnes 190
4. Collegiate 139
5. Norfolk Academy 121.5
6. Episcopal High School 118
7. Virginia Episcopal School 112
8. Fork Union Military Academy (FUMA) 110.5
9. Greenbriar Christian 109.5
10. Bishop Ireton 97
11. Woodberry Forest 95
12. Norfolk Collegiate 86
13. Covenant 77.5
14. Hargrave Military  74
15. Lynchburg Christian 61
16. Massanutten Military Academy 59 [a second year program!]
17. Norfolk Christian 58.5
18. Cape Henry Collegiate 57
19. Randolph-Macon Academy 53
20. Bishop Sullivan (previously called Norfolk Catholic) 50
21. Roanoke Catholic 48
22. Christchurch 33 (the team's best performance in 7 years, led by an inspired new head coach...)
22. Miller School 33
24. North Cross (Roanoke) 29.5
25. Potomac School 28
26. Blue Ridge 24
27. Benedictine 17
28. Fishburne Military Academy 15
28. St. Anne’s-Belfield (STAB) 15
30. Peninsula Catholic12.5
31. Seton School 0 (They had only one wrestler, but it's a first year program. Please feel free to send Seton School a welcoming e-mail over in Manassas, Va...)

How do these Virginia prep school wrestling (VISWA) individual & team rankings look to you?

*VirginiaWrestling.com´s Virginia private school results, rankings and forums page... 

  Are Trinity Episcopal High School & Wakefield School adding wrestling like Westover Christian Academy, Seton School & Massanutten Military Academy fairly recently have, and Timberlake Christian has considered doing?

    Meanwhile, Tandem Friends bowed out due to injuries and the greater desirability of a j.v. tournament that same weekend, while Paul VI elected to be careful with a potentially contagious skin condition.   The latter will nevertheless reportedly be at the National Preps.  Meanwhile, not all Va. prep schools with wrestling traditions sent contestants this year.  Among the no-shows for 2003 were: New Covenant (Lynchburg); Nansemond Suffolk Academy; Eastern Mennonite; &  Trinity Episcopal.  Feel free to e-mail them and ask them if they think they're doing all they should for the sport that doesn't discriminate on the basis of blindness, deafness, amputee status, size, or even gender (as of the 2004 Olympics).   We'd welcome your please letting us know what they say, too.  Winners seldom quit, and quitters seldom win.

     NOTE: Special congratulations go to Massanutten Military Academy.   In just their program's 2nd year of existence, they produced a Top 4 finisher at 140 lbs.  

        Incidentally, very few people seem to realize just how affordable an education at an independently run school in Virginia can be.   For more information on vouchers (which neighboring Washington D.C. already offers its taxpayers' youth), please click  here .  And if you're interested in asking an elected official in Virginia what (s)he thinks, feel free to click here: http://legis.state.va.us.   Can you believe that Virginia is one of the only states not to even offer "open-enrollment" in exchange for our tax dollars?  

Championship Finals:

103: Grant Giordano (Norfolk Academy) def. Tyler Hamblin (St. Christophers), 4-3 overtime.
112: Kevin Donahue (St. Christopher) def. Charlie Wilson (Fork Union), 14-6.
119: Brian Herod (St. Christopher) def. Jon Horbaly (Bishop Ireton), 4-2.
125: Zach Rolfe (St. Christphers) def. Jared Reutter (Hargrave Military), 18-3.
130: Jamie Robertson (Richmond Collegiate) def. Norman Anderson (OConnell), 4-1.
135: David Schafer (St. Christopher) def. Thomas Nielsen (Woodberry Forest), 4-3.
140: Hunter McDonald (St. Christopher) def. Reed Blair (Richmond Collegiate), 9-2.
145: Park (OConnell) def. Beebe (Episcopal), 19-6.
152: Lee Stokes (Greenbriar Christian) def. Brandon Nunnally (St. Christopher), 7-2.
160: Dirk Hurrin (St. Stephens) def. Hardwick Caldwell (VES), 7-0.
171: Stephen Ratley (OConnell) pinned Hunter Higginbotham (VES).
189: Ryan Robertson (St. Christopher) def. Elijah Vidal (Episcopal), 7-0.
215: Mike Shotwell (St. Stephens) def. Rory Bosek (Blue Ridge), 11-5.
275: Eddie Lynch (OConnell) def. Marcos Maldonado Maldonado (VES), 6-1.

Outstanding Wrestler: Steve Ratley, Bishop O'Connell

Consolation Finals:

103: Carpenter (BOC) d. Boyd (NCH) 20-8
112: Boyd (NCH) d. Dellalla (NA) 9-2
119: Amorosso (NA) d. Trope (C)
125: Brown (BI) d. Burns (RCS) 8-1
130: Russo (FUMA) d. Redd (StC) 4-3
135: Toalson (GCA) d. Smith (LCA) 9-6
140: Locke (SSSA) tf. Scannell (MMA) 16-1
145: Ganley (SSSA) d. Macon (NC) 4-3
152: Gordon (VES) d. Schoeffel (COV) 10-2
160: Adamson (StC) d. Fogarty (BI) 10-3
171: Hovis (StC) d. Miller (C) 12-5
189: Laird (BOC) d. Cornelius (WF) 9-5
215: Negi (BOC) d. Patton (RMA) 8-2
275: Riddell (EHS) d. Hassell (GCA) 5-1

The VISWA finally gets to participate in the
A, AA & AAA Virginia Challenge.  Can we rise to the challenge?

Below are the results for 5th & 6th place  [etcétera] (although what's at this site is more complete):

103
Norfolk Academy (Giordano)
St. Chris (Hamblin)
Bishop O'Connell
Norfolk Christian Academy
Cape Henry Collegiate
St. Stephens

112
St. Chris (Donohue)
FUMA
Norfolk Christin Academy
Norfolk Academy (DeLala)
Bishop Sullivan
Miller School

119
St. Chris (Herod)
Bishop Ireton
Norfolk Academy (Amorosso)
Collegiate (Edward Trope)
Norfolk Collegiate
Miller School

125
St. Chris (Rolf)
Hargrave Military Academy
Bishop Ireton
Roanoke Catholic
Woodberry Forest (Stinson)
Norfolk Collegiate

130
Collegiate (Jamie Robertson)
Bishop O'Connell
FUMA
St. Chris (Redd)
Bishop Ireton
Miller School

135
St. Chris (Schafer)
Woodberry Forest (Neilsen)
Greenbrier Christian Academy
Lynchburg Christian Academy
Cape Henry Collegiate
Potomac

140
St. Chris (MacDonald)
Collegiate (Reed Blair)
St. Stephens (Locke)
Massanuten Military Academy
Covenant School
North Cross

145
Bishop O'Connell
Episcopal
St. Stephens
Norfolk Collegiate
Covenant School
St. Chris (Moses)

152
Greenbrier Christian Acadey
St. Chris (Nunnally)
VES (Gordon)
Covenant School
Bishop O'Connell
Collegiate (Jonathan Price)

160
St. stephens (Hurrin)
VES (Caldwell)
St. Chris (Adamson)
Bishop Ireton
Greenbrier Christian Academy
Norfolk Academy (Scott)

171
Bishop O'Connell (Ratley)
VES (Higggenbottom)
St. Chris (Hovis)
Collegiate (Al Miller)
FUMA
Episcopal

189
St. Chris (Robertson)
Episcopal
Bishop O'Connell
Woodberry Forest
FUMA
Collegiate (Marshall Waller)

215
St. Stephens (Shotwell)
Blue Ridge School (Bosek)
Bishop O'Connell (Negri)
Randolph Macon Academy (Patton)
St. Chris (Rose)
FUMA(Powell)

275
Bishop O'Connell
VES (Maldonado)
Episcopal (Riddell)
Greenbrier Christian Academy
Hargrave Military Academy
St. Stephens.

Upcoming VISWA tournament locations:
2005: Paul VI
2006: St. Christopher’s
 

    Richmond's Trinity Episcopal High School will reinstate football during the Fall of 2004. Why not wrestling, though? They had a National Prep All-American in Will Seger (1984) [4th place, 185 lbs.] and some All Prep and state medalist wrestlers since then. Nevertheless, that Richmond-area nonboarding school which charges $12,500 per year in tuition still has no DEFINED plans to reinstate humanity's oldest sport which doesn't discriminate on the basis of blindness, deafness, amputee status, size or gender (as of this Summer's 2004 Olympics in which women's freestyle wrestlers will participate).

     What's more influential than questioning from aspiring students and parents, or even from folks in the community who are simply concerned about this seemingly discriminatory decision of Trinity's? Here's their contact data:

http://www.trinityes.org/admissions/financial_aid.php

Might you know any alumni who would call or write in, too?

  Is Wakefield School about to add wrestling like the somewhat nearby Seton School (Manassas, Va.) & Massanutten Military Academy fairly recently have?

How many high school state championships did multiple Olympic wrestling champion Bruce Baumgartner (the U.S. flag bearer in Atlanta in '96) win?   Answer: 0

*Here is the Lehigh "national preps" site.   Here is an alternative National Preps results site.

*site dedicated to coaching job openings (and aspiring coaches) for Virginia and elsewhere...


*2003 Prep League tournament results (courtesy of MatTalkOnline.com)

*Year 2000, Year 2001 & Year 2003 National Prep Wrestling tournament  results.  Year 2002 official National Preps page.

( Does it make sense to continue NOT rotating that "national" tournament's venue, while also not counting post-graduates' contributions separately like they last did in 1975 when Blue Ridge H.S. (in St. George, Va.) won it all?   Here's a discussion thread involving those two potential reforms.)


*Year 1997 Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2000 Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2001  Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2002  Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2003 Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2004 Virginia Independent Schools state touranment results.
*Year 2005 Virginia Independent Schools state touranment results.
*Year 2006 Virginia Independent Schools state touranment results.
*Year 2007 Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2008 Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2009 Virginia Independent Schools state tournament results.
*Year 2010 Virginia Independent Schools state wrestling tournament results.

*Year 1997 AAA state tournament results (won by a Western Branch team with merely 17 participants on its November '96 roster)

List of colleges with wrestling teams (despite Title IX complications)

*site dedicated to coaching job openings (and aspiring coaches) available in Virginia and elsewhere...

 MatTalkOnline.com has compiled some evolving VISWA rankings.  They're available from here.

For the 2002-2003 season's latest prep school dual meet scores (which one can post for free here) please click here.  Meanwhile, for the latest tournament scores (which one can post for free here) please click here.

*A female wrestler from which pioneering Virginia high school became the first female, statewide, ever to win a match in the VISWA state tournament?   Answer: Collegiate's  Sunny Clemons '97.

*Title IX (and how a lack of gender equity has forced our increasingly popular self defense-oriented sport to lose several hundred  official college teams).

*Considering the USA's record-high $5.9 trillion dollar national debt, which is straining law enforcement budgets nationwide like never before, would self defense-oriented sports (even at the mere exhibition level) not seem more potentially useful than ever to already diet-conscious women?   Don't traveling overseas (especially where handguns are outlawed), and at night here in the USA already involve enough inherent risks for ambitious & career-oriented folks?  Women's amateur wrestling is an Olympics sport now, and may become an NCAA and high school one at the rate it's growing.  Wouldn't that seemingly help our sport rebound from Title IX?

*InterMat´s women´s amateur wrestling site
*TheMat.com's women's amateur wrestling site

*National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA, the rapidly growing college club league).
*Off-season Virginia wrestling tournaments (courtesy of Mat Talk Online)
*Off-season wrestling camps (courtesy of InterMat)
*VirginiaWrestling.com´s private school results & rankings page.  
*Prep Page
*CentralRegionWrestling.com (with a great discussion forum devoted to wrestling in Central Va., etc.)
*InterMat´s very comprehensive Virginia wrestling site.

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