Washington wrestling coach Daniel Riggs wasn’t exactly sure how his 13 young wrestlers would perform at the NCHSAA East Regional meet in Rocky Mount but he knew the experience would serve his athletes well.
As it turns out, the young Pam Pack wrestlers learned pretty quickly as they finished in 10th place out of the 32 competing teams while Jason Gardner and Thomas Remick advanced to the state meet.
“It feels pretty good. Our goal every year is to send as many to state as possible and place high at the regional tournament,” Riggs said. “But placing 10th with us having no seniors really shows that all the hard work has paid off and really gets us excited for next year.”
Making the trip to the regional meet along with Gardner (113 pounds) and Remick (145) were Cameron Davenport (106 pounds), David Giordano (120), Shane Carter (126), Chris Bohn (138), Devon Van Cura (152), Ned Batts (160), Chris Coogan (170), Jack Rodman (182), Kyle Krajewski (195), Ian Stroud (220) and Tim Jordan (285).
Sophomores Gardner and Remick led the way for Washington as each went 4-2 during the two-day meet to place fourth in the region and make it to state.
Of the 13 that made it to the regional meet, none were seniors and Riggs said that overall he was happy with his team’s effort.
“Every coach wishes that every kid that makes it to the regional tournament can make it to the state but we just made a couple of rookie mistakes,” Riggs said. “I’m very proud of how the guys kept wrestling. The reward for them was making it to the regional tournament and getting to see what it’s all about for the future.”
The future looks bright for Riggs and his team as all 13 wrestlers will be back next season. As far as the present, Riggs was happy to see Gardner and Remick keep their season alive.
“I tell the team that if you happen to lose a match that a lot of people will let it affect the rest of their time at the meet,” Riggs said. “But with Jason and Thomas, they lost matches but they didn’t let it affect them. Especially Thomas, he lost on the first day and he had to win three in a row in order to make it to state.
“I kept telling them if they lost just move on. Don’t worry about the last match worry about the one you got coming up right now.”
Aside from Gardner and Remick, Riggs said several other wrestlers turned in quality performances.
“Ned Batts, David Giordano, Jack Rodman and Devon Van Cura all wanted to make it to the state tournament but came one match short,” Riggs said. “They still have next year so hopefully they will learn from this and improve upon it for next year.”