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Fauquier takes second in Group AAA wrestling
The wrestling contingent sent to states by a typical Virginia team could fit in a Fiat.
Fauquier High took a Scenic America tour bus this season.
That sums up the level of success reached by the Falcons, but it also highlights the high expectations stowed in the baggage compartment of that bus.
Fauquier set a school record by finishing second Saturday in the Group AAA state meet at Oscar Smith High in Chesapeake, yet many of the Falcons left disappointed. Daniel McGillivray was the lone Falcon to win an individual championship, taking the 160-pound title, and Fauquier fell short of its goal to win a team title. With 97.5 points scored over the two-day tournament, Fauquier finished behind two-time defending champion Colonial Forge (121 points).
“That’s the only problem,” Fauquier coach Bryan Hurst said. “Now that we’re getting better, if we don’t win, it’s a letdown…That’s the fight in them – the competitiveness.
“But in the 36 years before I took over this program, we had eight winning seasons. This program’s come a long way and I’m happy. These kids worked their butts off.”
Hurst’s Falcons have set school records each of the last three seasons, in fact, placing third at the 2007-08 state tournament and ninth in 2006-07. While only McGillivray ended a champion this season, six of the eight Fauquier wrestlers who qualified for state medaled at the tournament by finishing in the top eight of their weight classes.
Ryan Hunsberger and Chris Moon finished second at 112 and 152 pounds, respectively, while Conner Miller placed third at 135, Greg Flournoy took fourth at 103 and Neil McGuire finished eighth at 140. Andrew Richards (125 pounds) and Jakob Seely (130) each went 0-2 and did not advance beyond day one.
McGillivray finished first by beating Stone Bridge’s Daniel Fissmer, 1-0, in the 160-pound final, becoming the first Fauquier wrestler to win a state championship since Kevin Chapman won at 112 pounds in 2004-05. Chapman’s title came at the AA state meet, though, making McGillivray Fauquier’s third AAA champion. Robert Blue won the heavyweight title in 1973 and Tom Cummings took the 126-pound title in 1983.
“I love giving Coach Hurst a title,” McGillivray said after his victory.
McGillivray was also responsible for securing Fauquier’s second-place finish as a team. A loss in the 160-pound final would have left Fauquier in third because it entered that bout trailing Kellem, 94.5-93.5. McGillivray was the only wrestler from either school still alive in the finals, so the four points he scored by winning a title were pivotal.
“I think that’s why Daniel was a little tight on his match,” Hurst said. “It wasn’t just Daniel wining a state title – he’s been there before so he’s not nervous about that – he was doing it for the team.”
A two-time A state champion at Manassas Park, McGillivray entered Saturday’s final having dominated most of his matches this season, including a 9-0 win in the state quarterfinals and 7-0 win in the semifinals. So, his 1-0 win in the final was unusually close. It was good enough to propel Fauquier into second place, nonetheless...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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