Friday, January 23, 2009
Christiansburg headlines Big Blue
The Blue Demons are a national top-10 team heading into the tourney, which begins today.
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Christiansburg's wrestling team has been difficult to derail this season.
The Blue Demons have worked their way up to a No. 8 national ranking by amateurwrestlingnews.com and have performed exceptionally well at a number of highly regarded tournaments.
They won the Virginia Duals, finished fourth in The Clash National Wrestling Duals and had strong showings at the Beast of the East and the Walsh Ironman.
Now, the competition comes to the Blue Demons, who will host the Big Blue tournament at Christiansburg High School.
Matches begin at 4 p.m. today, with 31 total schools participating in the event.
And Christiansburg coach Daryl Weber knows what the competition is going to be like.
"There's a lot of teams that are well-rounded," he said."Every weight class is going to be tough to win."
Weber said he believes the Big Blue is the toughest tournament in Virginia.
"You'll see some better matches than you'll see in the state tournament," he said.
Weber said this is the case because you have some of the best wrestlers from Group A, AA, AAA -- as well as out-of-state teams -- that won't be competing against each other in the state tournaments.
Luckily for Christiansburg, it boasts two wrestlers that are highly regarded, not just in the state, but in the country.
Junior Devin Carter is ranked No. 1 in the country in the 112-pound division by amateurwrestlingnews.com, and senior Jon Weber is ranked No. 9 at 215.
Both will be expected to lead an impressive mix of experience and youth for the Blue Demons against some of Virginia's best wrestlers.
As for his two most high-profile wrestlers, Weber was effusive in his praise.
"[Carter] is the total package. He's a team leader. Guys look up to him. He does everything right," Daryl Weber said.
"He's the kind of kid you want in your program."
As for Jon Weber, the coach was most impressed with the progress the senior has made since last year.
"This year he's gone from a force at the state level to a force at a national level," he said. "He's really turned into a great role model."
Great role models have been what has propelled Christiansburg to such a stellar season.
Carter was the Blue Demons' only returning state champion this season, but the team has bought into the program and wrestled at high-level tournaments all season.
"We've got six seniors in the lineup ... they're all on a mission to get that state title," he said.
If Christiansburg's wrestlers don't have a good idea of how close they are to winning those state championships yet, this weekend should help clear things up a little bit more.
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Defending champion Grundy headlines the field for the Big Orange Classic, which begins today at William Byrd.
The Golden Wave outscored runner-up Franklin County 268-196 to take the title last year, while private school power Bishop O'Connell was third.
Jamie Carr of Lord Botetourt will attempt to become a rare four-time Big Orange individual champion. Carr's first three titles came when he was wrestling for Franklin County.
Grundy's team title last year broke an 11-year stranglehold that Franklin County and Christiansburg held on the event.
The championship round should start at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday.
