HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — After two days of competition at the 66th annual WVSSAC state wrestling meet, Point Pleasant is ready to start spelling frustration with three A’s.
The Big Blacks — who are making their first trip through the Class AAA circuit after winning three straight Class AA-A championships before this season — had only one grappler advance to a state final while placing seventh overall through Thursday and Friday matches at the Big Sandy Superstore in Cabell County.
Point Pleasant started the three-day weekend with a dozen wrestlers, eight of whom won their opening contests on Thursday evening. By the time Friday night rolled around, PPHS was down to five grapplers in championship semifinals — but only one earned a spot in Saturday night’s grand finale.
Senior Trevor Hill went 3-0 in the 170-pound weight class and will face Ripley senior Nick Starkey in the championship match Saturday night. Hill will be aiming for his first state title in wrestling, and he will also be aiming to extend Point’s state-champion streak to nine consecutive years.
Hill picked up a default win over Keeten Asbury of Shady Spring in the opening round, then earned a 9-3 decision over Kyle Rogers of Lewis County to advance to Friday night’s semifinal. Hill competed against a Greenbrier East opponent who was eventually disqualified in the match, securing Hill’s spot in Saturday night’s main event.
That was about all that went well Friday night for PPHS, who had amassed 76 points as a team through two days. Huntington leads the Class AAA field headed into the final day with 152.50 points, with Parkersburg (136.5), Ripley (115.5), Parkersburg South (102) and Washington (88.5) rounding out the top five spots.
Senior Noah Searls and juniors John Raike, Guy Fisher and Brycen Reymond all had their championship hopes thwarted on Friday night with losses in their respective championship semifinal contests. Searls (138), Raike (113), Fisher (120) and Reymond (182) all own 3-1 marks headed into Saturday matches that could lead to as high a finish as third for each individual.
That quintet, however, is all that is left for Point Pleasant headed into Saturday’s finale.
Junior Josh Hudson (145) and sophomores Jacob Starcher (195) and Jacob Duncan (220) all ended their respective weekends with 2-2 overall records, while senior Micah Powell (126) and junior Caleb Leslie (106) had their two days come to an end with matching 1-2 marks.
Senior Steven Porter and sophomore Austin Rutter both went winless in two matches in the 132- and 152-pound divisions, respectively.
Complete results of the 66th annual WVSSAC Class AAA wrestling meet are available on the web at wvmat.com
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