McLeans' Bussard Second in States

The 2004-2005 high school wrestling season came to a close last night in Chesapeake as McLean’s Jeremy Bussard and Fairfax’s Adam Fitterer earned second place finishes. For the eighth straight year, Chesapeake’s Great Bridge High School won the state team title in a runaway. Bussard lost in the finals to T.C. Williams’ Sam O’Hair, 4-2. O’Hair, a third-place finisher last year, who finished this season undefeated, had defeated Bussard 1-0 eight days earlier in the Regional semi-finals.

Last night, the match was scoreless for the first two periods. Bussard released O’Hair at the start of the third, but then took the rangy Titans’ senior down to take a short-lived 2-1 lead. Bussard released O’Hair again to tie the match at two each, hoping to get the final takedown. Instead, it was O’Hair who struck, hitting Bussard with a low-single leg takedown and riding the Highlander senior for the remaining 50 seconds.

Bussard had earned his place in the finals with three consecutive victories, perhaps the most impressive of which was his quarterfinals 7-3 victory over defending state champion Ivan Lagares of Woodbridge. As he did throughout the tournament, but was unable to do against O’Hair, Bussard dominated his opponents from the neutral position, scoring nine takedowns and giving up just one.

In the semi-finals, Bussard dispatched Madison’s Eric Monday for the third time in less than a month with a 9-3 victory. Although trailing 2-1 in the second period, Monday seemed to be gaining strength as he was riding Bussard aggressively and had broken the McLean senior flat to the mat. Bussard hit a beautiful four-point roll to move the score to 6-1, and the match was effectively over. Monday eventually placed fourth.

McLean’s other entrant, 130-pounder Troy Hayre, was trailing Freedom’s Justin Hickey 5-0 when Hayre hit his patented backward-roll elevator and nearly pinned Hickey. Hickey was able to squirm loose, however, and they entered the last 10 seconds tied at five. With less than five seconds on the clock, however, the veteran Hayre committed a technical violation by locking his hands illegally, giving Hickey the win.

Hayre was eliminated in the next round by the eventual third-place finisher, Derek Gillespie of Great Bridge.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com