John Sullivan, Willie Hoover and Nick Pitas pose after States.

Hoover’s championship performance was the first for George Mason since Dominic Clark won the gold at 160 lbs. in 2001, and only the third individual title in school history. With the addition of the State title Hoover successfully completed every high school athlete’s dream: the Triple Crown of a District, Region, and State championship.

Interestingly, all of this came within a whisker of not happening at all. Just two weeks prior to the District tournament, Hoover was not even certain he would be able to wrestle. After sustaining a concussion during a match against McLean High School, he was unable to practice heading into the post season and did not receive medical clearance until the day prior to the District tournament. Even though he was a little rusty after so much time off the mats, it was there that the first sign of what was to come appeared in the form of a decisive victory of then-number-one ranked 152-pounder Sergio Chavez of Manassas Park. History would repeat itself one week later, as Hoover once again defeated Chavez to gain the Regional Crown.

Even with these victories, Hoover was not favored at the State tournament due to the depth of the weight class, but that changed quickly as he swept through the competition en route to the title, which came with a 6-3 decision over Patrick Driscoll of Covington High School.

It was not an all Hoover show at the State tournament however, as senior captain John Sullivan took third place at 171, and junior Nick Pitas finished in fourth at 125. Also contributing points, but falling short of the medal rounds was junior Michael Coleman at 135 lbs. Coming off of last year’s unexpected third-place finish, none of the competition thought that they would see the Mustangs crack the Top Ten at the State tournament this year, but the points earned by these four were enough to vault Mason to ninth place, the school’s third top-ten finish in the last four years.