Dix Manning Duals as close as it gets

Dec. 18—At least it didn't come down to chance.

Liberty, Spring Valley and host Shady Spring were grouped together in the championship round at the Dix Manning Duals on Saturday after teams were repooled. When the final match was complete, it took a reference to the rulebook and detailed views of the scoresheets to determine a winner.

Finally, Spring Valley came away with the championship.

All three teams went 1-1 in the final round, meaning the winner had to be determined based on criteria, or a series of tiebreaker scenarios. It came down to criterion E — "the team having accumulated the greater number of points for falls, defaults, forfeits, or disqualifications shall be declared the winner."

Let Shady Spring coach Anthony Shrewsberry break it down.

"We beat Liberty, Liberty beat Spring Valley and Spring Valley beat us," he said. "It went through a number of things, a number of criteria, even the number of (individual) wins was the one before. We tied with Spring Valley, which eliminated Liberty. They had one less. The next one down was the most six-point wins. We had won four matches by three points and they beat us by one. They had one more six-point win."

The list of criteria goes all the way down to P — a coin flip. Or, actually, a disk.

Liberty opened the championship pool with a 41-36 win over Spring Valley. Shady Spring then defeated Liberty 45-30. Spring Valley closed it out with a 48-36 victory over Shady Spring.

Raiders coach Cole Blankenship was frustrated that his team finished third after defeating the team that was eventually crowned the champion.

"I thought we wrestled awesome," he said. "We won our original pool, had a really intense match with Riverside and ended up winning that one. And then we beat Spring Valley and ended up losing a real close one to Shady. That ended up leaving it in a three-way tie for first place and we just happened to get third on criteria. It just doesn't sit right when you beat the (team) that got the first place trophy. It's just one of those things.

"Gavin Brown at 113 (pounds) wrestled real hard all day. Colton Tolliver at 138 also had a real good day. My whole team, honestly, wrestled good. It's really hard to single out a few kids because every one was wrestling really well all day long. I'm super proud of all them. They all looked really good."

The Tigers wrestled the day with six starters out injured or sick.

"To be able to (finish runner-up), I was really happy with our guys," Shrewsberry said. "There was some really good wrestling today. Two (of the top three) are from our county, and not the two that everybody is talking about.

"Considering who we were missing out with sickness and injury, the freshmen came in and really stepped up. (Gabe) Knoblet pinned a kid (Spring Valley's Garryk McFeeley), I think he was 12-1 before today, ranked in triple-A. Braelen Holstein is an animal. Everybody he wrestled today he just destroyed.

"These guys just stepped up, and it's getting contagious. You can see the excitement. These older guys are showing these younger guys what to do and it's getting contagious. It's fun."

It was a big weekend for Spring Valley's Ciara Riner, who was already coming off a statement weekend at the Women of Ironman tournament in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. She finished fourth at 140 pounds competing against nationally-ranked girls wrestlers.

On Friday, she went 3-0 at 138 pounds and claimed Most Outstanding Wrestler honors in the Shady Spring Scuffle girls tournament. She came back Saturday for the Dix Manning Duals and went undefeated against the boys.

Riner has been wrestling since she was 9 and has competed at the Ironman level many times. She is coming back from a torn MCL suffered in April.

"It feels good to be a girl out there and get wins," Riner said. "None of the boys expect it. They kind of look down on it, a lot of them do. But going out there and win, proving a point, makes me feel good."

She likes tournaments like the Shady Spring Scuffle that put the spotlight on girls wrestling with hopes of one day getting the sport fully sanctioned by the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission. Nearly 70 girls competed Friday night.

"I'm glad they do it. It's definitely good for the sport," Riner said. "Usually there's two or three girls in a bracket. So having a full bracket and actually promoting girls wrestling, especially the day before the boys tournament — the boys were here watching — it meant a lot. It's big for the sport, I think."

Greenbrier East swept the Most Outstanding Wrestler awards on Saturday. Kaden Stone (138) won for the lighter weights and Calvin Roberts (285) won the heavier weights. It was a repeat selection for Roberts.

Most area teams will compete at the second annual Fallen Heroes Tournament Thursday and Friday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5