Highlander Wrestlers Prepare for Liberty District TOurnament at Langley

The McLean wrestling team’s second season begins Friday afternoon when they join their seven Liberty District rivals at Langley High School for the 2005 Liberty District Tournament.

The format for tournament wrestling is different than the dual meet format used throughout most of the season to date. Each wrestler’s goal is to advance through his eight-man bracket to the finals, scoring points for his team along the way. Wrestlers who lose enter the consolation round, where they have the opportunity to “wrestle back” to third place.

The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the 16-man Northern Region Tournament scheduled for Feb. 17-19 at Hayfield Secondary School, with the

top four regional place winners advancing to the state tournament in Chesapeake Feb. 24-26. This weekend will also determine the 2005 Liberty District team championship. Langley has won four consecutive Liberty District titles. Woodson and Fairfax promise to be tough this year as well. Both defeated McLean during the dual meet season, while the Highlanders split a pair of meets with Langley, beat Marshall twice, and defeated Lee, Madison, and South Lakes. Dual meet results are not always good measures of post-season tournament performance, however, and this weekend will likely produce surprises.

Last year, McLean finished seventh out of eight, but crowned a District champ (171-pounder John Andrews) and qualified five wrestlers for the Regional tournament, including current Highlanders Jeremy Bussard (last year at 189, now at 171), Danny Houck (152 both years), and Troy Hayre (last year at 119, now at 130). Coach McCaffrey hopes this experienced trio and their teammates will reap the benefits of wrestling a 2004-2005 schedule that may have been the most difficult ever for a McLean wrestling team.

The Highlanders compiled a 19-11 dual meet record, wrestling twice as many matches as they did just two years ago. McLean sought tougher competition as well, wrestling quality Virginia teams outside the Northern Region such as Stonewall Jackson from Manassas and Manchester from Richmond. The Highlanders also traveled to Pennsylvania where they wrestled four Keystone State teams at Conestoga Valley’s Buckskin Duals.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com