Highlander Wrestlers Crowned District Champions, Move on to Regions

Highlander seniors Jeremy Bussard and Danny Houck have traveled long and winding roads through their four-year wrestling careers at McLean, but on Saturday, those roads ended at the top of the winners’ podium as Bussard and Houck captured their first Liberty District championships. Underclassmen Troy Hayre and Tim Goodsell also won titles as McLean crowned four Liberty District champions for the first time since 1995. Langley won its fifth consecutive Liberty District team championship.

Last year, Jeremy Bussard struggled to a fourth place district finish as he wrestled up a weight class at 189 against a series of heavier, taller opponents. This year, wrestling at his natural 171 pounds, the Highlander co-captain has compiled a fabulous 43-1 record, but his workmanlike style has earned him little recognition from the cognoscenti in the Northern Virginia chat rooms. However, after this afternoon’s decisive 7-4 victory over Madison’s highly regarded Eric Monday (31-4), there is little doubt that Bussard is among the premier 171-pounders in the state. Using the script he followed in a 3-2 victory over Monday a week ago, Bussard dominated the Madison junior from neutral, scoring three takedowns and an escape, with Monday scoring nothing more than a series of harmless escapes.

Two-months ago, it seemed doubtful that Houck would wrestle again this season as he lay crumpled along the mat after tearing his meniscus at the NOVA Classic.

After a five-week layoff, intense physical therapy, and several lackluster matches during the ensuing comeback, Houck’s 5-2 victory over Woodson junior Tim Baltemeier (26-10) could not have been sweeter. The Highlander co-captain scored the first takedown and rode Baltemeier through the remainder of the first and the entire second period. After a third period escape, Houck launched Baltemeier with a textbook throw at the edge of the mat to seal the win.

In the wildest match of the afternoon, junior 215-pounder Tim Goodsell reversed Langley’s top-seeded Jeff Allen to his back with less than 10 seconds remaining to grab a 7-5 upset victory. Trailing 2-1 early in the third period, Goodsell was working to get off the bottom when the referee hit him with a truly bizarre stalling call that pushed Allen’s lead to 3-1.

When Goodsell escaped seconds later, he trailed 3-2 rather than being tied. Forced into a desperation takedown attempt, Goodsell lunged and Allen countered by spinning behind Goodsell for what appeared to be the decisive takedown. With mere seconds left, Goodsell turned into Allen, catching the Langley wrestler off balance and rolling him to his back.

Injury-free for the first time in his career, Goodsell has been wrestling with an intensity and confidence that had eluded him earlier, and his emergence as a consistent force bodes well for the Regionals and beyond.

At 130, Troy Hayre entered the third period tied 4-4 with Marshall’s Melod Teymorian. However, Hayre, who seems taller every week, used his height and reach to good advantage as he completely dominated the third period to come away with a 10-4 victory. Though just a sophomore, Hayre has already passed the 50-win mark in his brief Highlander career.

Three other Highlanders will join Bussard, Houck, Goodsell, and Hayre at the Northern Region tournament next week at Hayfield Secondary School. At 119, sophomore Aaron Woo lived up to his fourth-seed with a consolation semi-final 8-4 victory over Madison’s Doug Jones. Woo lost in the consolation finals match for third place to Woodson’s Bryan Powers, but as a top-four finisher, moves on to Regionals, as does sophomore 125-pounder Julio Cortazar and freshman 135-pounder Sean Flint.

Cortazar earned an impressive 7-0 win over Langley’s Matt Hozik to make the consolation finals. Hozik had defeated Cortazar in overtime during the Langley dual meet just two weeks ago. Cortazar dropped a razor-close 5-4 decision in the consolation finals. At 135, Flint won a gritty 3-0 decision over Madison’s Mike Hildebrand in the consolation semi-finals. The rapidly improving Flint finished fourth after a 4-2 consolation finals loss to Woodson veteran Nick Trahan. The remainder of the Highlanders saw their seasons end this weekend: