The Salem High wrestling team put six on the podium, had a champion in heavyweight Jake James, and finished a solid third in last weekend’s Class 4 state tournament at the Virginia Beach Sports Complex. The tournament concluded one of Salem’s best wrestling season’s ever.
“What an amazing weekend!” said Salem coach Lawrence Van Liew. “We went six for six in the quarterfinals to guarantee state placers. We ended up just short of our team goal of top two in the state by three points.”
Woodgrove won the state championship with 153.5 points and two state champs. Loudoun County was second with 112 points and three state champs. Salem finished with 109 points and was second to Woodgrove, seven to six, in number of wrestlers who placed in the top six.
The highlight of the weekend was James, who pinned his way through the heavyweight bracket. Jake had pins of 12 seconds, two minutes even and 2:27 to reach the championship match. He then pinned Daniel Serrano of Park View Sterling in the final in just 34 seconds to win the state championship.
Patrick Patterson finished second at 113. He made the final before falling to Hayden Black of James Wood in the championship match 3-0.
Junior Derek Bush, who won a state championship as a Spartan freshman, won his first two matches at 120 before losing in the semifinal, 20-16 to Brodie Gibbs of Atlee. Derek then wrestled back to take the next two, winning his consolation championship match 7-0 over Declan McCarton of Eastern View.
Other place winners for the Spartans included Anthony Baudanza with a fourth at 132, Giuseppe Baudanza with a fifth at 138 and Sayge Herdon with a sixth at 106. All six Spartans who reached the podium are underclassmen.
“All state placers are back next year,” said Van Liew, who looking to move up a couple spots in the team standings next season. “We have one goal!!”
