"Special" junior class keeps rolling for Region 3 champ Woodrow Wilson

Feb. 18—Matt Osborne couldn't help notice Jacob Meadows and Nick Dvorak having their picture taken together. He just happened to be talking about the two, both members of a junior class that has taken the Woodrow Wilson wrestling program to another level.

The Flying Eagles romped to their third consecutive Class AAA Region 3 championship, scoring a total of 237.5 points. Eight of their 10 finalists won championships, and 11 wrestlers qualified for the state tournament.

Six of the eight champions and eight of the 11 qualifiers are juniors. They were freshmen when Woodrow won its first regional championship since 1989.

The junior class has been the backbone of this current run.

"They're special," Osborne said. "The cool thing is, whenever they were freshmen, I think they were all serious wrestlers. They all practiced really hard and were serious. When they came in the ninth grade, they had two really good seniors in Jackson Evans and Alex Webb. What those boys did was they taught them how to have fun with wrestling.

"It was fun having those two in the mat room. I think they showed them how to work like high school kids and how to rebound from disappointments or having high expectations and not meeting them. So they had four good guys (Ethan Osborne and Jay Webb additionally), and now you're seeing a bunch of juniors — and a senior, a couple of sophomores and a couple of freshmen — that love wrestling. And it shows."

Among those junior qualifiers were the usual suspects — Garrett Johnson (champion, 113 pounds), Tyler Roark (champion, 132), J.J. Bailes (champion, 138), Vance Neal (champion, 157), Jacob Reeves (champion, 165) and Landon Jones (champion, 215). Johnson and Roark will be looking to repeat as state champions in two weeks, and all six are top 10 wrestlers.

Then there are Meadows and Dvorak, who stepped up on Saturday. They both finished runner-up, at 150 and 175, respectively.

"Some people can say (Meadows' performance) is a surprise, but we've known that from when Jacob walked in the mat room his ninth grade year after football season," Osborne said. "We knew that that kid has a lot of potential. He has learned so much about his potential and what kind of wrestler he is.

"And his buddy Nick Dvorak — right there together taking a picture (pointing) — they're learning how to be wrestlers. It started in middle school. Now they're both in regional finals in their 11th grade year and that's a big deal."

Arguably the biggest moment of the day for Woodrow, ranked third in the state, came in the 132-pound final, where junior Roark faced St. Albans senior Matthew McAfee. Looking for his fourth Region 3 championship, McAfee is also a two-time state champion.

Roark found himself in a 2-0 hole in the third period. But, with 57 seconds left, Roark took McAfee down and scored two back points to take a 4-2 lead.

"Just a shin whizzer tilt," Roark said of the move. "I hit the same thing in the (126-pound) state finals last year. Funky move. Defensive move."

Osborne offered a more detailed perspective.

"It depends on how you hit that what you call it," Osborne said. "It's a shin whizzer tilt. Some people will call it a Jonesy, but a Jonesy's from your feet. It's the same move, but it's from your feet. But that's a shin whizzer tilt.

"If anybody has been keeping up with Tyler, he won a state championship with it last year. He beat (Brady Roberts), a senior from Parkersburg South, right away in the first period had the kid on his back, was up 5-0 with that move."

In the final 10 seconds, Roark got caught up in the moment and potentially could have cost himself the match. Wrestling in a state tournament atmosphere and with the Woodrow Wilson football team cheering him on, Roark began motioning to the crowd while McAfee was in a defenseless position. The referee awarded McAfee a point for unsportsmanlike conduct with 7.3 seconds to go to make the score 4-3.

Roark was able to keep McAfee down after the restart and secure the championship.

Roark was accountable for the mistake after the match.

"I just lost my head. Just the crowd and the spotlight, all that," said Roark, who was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler for the lighter weights. "I lost my head. That's on me."

Senior Troy Harris won the 144-pound championship to remain undefeated, and sophomore Jackson Woods made his return from injury to win the title at 106. Freshman Landon Osborne was third at 126 to qualify for his first state tournament.

Johnson earned his 100th career pin, joining Bailes in the 150-100 club — 150 career wins, 100 career pins.

Greenbrier East senior Calvin Roberts defended his 285-pound championship and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler for the upper weights. Roberts was a state finalist last season.

Roberts' teammate, Keshawn Bland, won the title at 190.

Other qualifiers for the Spartans were Kai Asano (fourth, 106), Robert Fugate (fourth, 120), Aiden Fleshman (fourth, 126), Parker Hale (third, 132), Kaden Stone (second, 138), Elijah Lee (fourth, 144), Carter Hamilton (second, 165), Carlos Rodrigo (third, 175) and Harrison Smith (fourth, 215).

The remaining regional champs were George Washington's Owen Anderson (120) and Ben McComas (126), Moses Eades of St. Albans (150) and Kyle Beverly of GW (175).

GW was second in the team race with 181.5 points. Head coach Alex Neal was named Region 3 Coach of the Year.

In third was Greenbrier East (174.5), with Riverside (132) and St. Albans (130) rounding out the top five.

Oak Hill was sixth (107) and will take Isaac Davis (third, 113), Colton Willard (fourth, 132), Aaron Higginbotham (third, 157), Dayvon Bravo (fourth, 175) and Colton Naylor (third, 285) to Huntington.

Capital (60) was seventh, Princeton (48) eighth and South Charleston (29) ninth.

Qualifying for Princeton were Chandler Morris (third, 120) and Christopher McGlothlin (fourth, 190).

Placewinners (Top 4 qualify for the state tournament)

106: Jackson Woods (WW), Alonzo Long (SA), Dylan Burks (C), Kai Asano (GE), Jaden Lukowicz (R), Waylon Webb (OH)

113: Garrett Johnson (WW), Knash Davis (GW), Isaac Davis (OH), Ethan Pack (R), Dewayne Hamm (P), Jacob Barker (GE)

120: Owen Anderson (GW), Jayden Ford (SA), Chandler Morris (P), Robert Fugate (GE), Garrett Smith (OH), Josh Linton (C)

126: Ben McComas (GW), Mac Payne (SA), Landon Osborne (WW), Aiden Fleshman (GE), Brayden Robinson (C), Brian Hensley (OH)

132: Tyler Roark (WW), Matt McAfee (SA), Parker Hale (GE), Colton Willard (OH), Benson Leavitt (C), Jay Rankin (GW)

138: J.J. Bailes (WW), Kaden Stone (GE), Eli Derr (SA), Avery Holland (R), Hayden Keffer (OH)

144: Troy Harris (WW), Sam Giordano (SA), Levi Petty (R), Elijah Lee (GE), Greyson Osborne (GW), Skylar Swiger (P)

150: Moses Eades (SA), Jacob Meadows (WW), King McCray (GW), Eli Taft (R), Christopher Hale (OH), Bradlee Sigmon (SC)

157: Vance Neal (WW), Brayden Zuniga (SC), Aaron Higginbotham (OH), Andrew Easter (R), Avery Totten (GW), Austin Roberts (GE)

165: Jacob Reeves (WW), Carter Hamilton (GE), Chayden Johnson (R), Noah Green (GW), Cade Compton (OH), Isaac Slater (C)

175: Kyle Beverly (GW), Nick Dvorak (WW), Carlos Rodrigo (GE), Dayvon Bravo (OH), Jonathan Fester-Pfeffer (C), Mason Primmer (P)

190: Keshawn Bland (GE), Jack Gorrell (GW), Christian Holcomb (R), Christopher McGlothlin (P), Andrew Bennett (C), Tripp Stiffler (WW)

215: Landon Jones (WW), James Payne (GW), Elias Cottrell (C), Harrison Smith (GE), Remington Rose (R)

285: Calvin Roberts (GE), J.R. Cochran (R), Colton Naylor (OH), Tyrell Ellis (GW), Lincoln Johnson (SC), Kevin Vanmeter (C)

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