Wednesday morning, six Harrison wrestlers that were selected to compete on Georgia’s National Freestyle & Greco-Roman Cadet Team left from Atlanta International Airport to Rochester, Minnesota to compete for Georgia in the Cadet Duals National competition.  The Harrison members selected for this team were Trent Arwood, Patrick Curry, Nick Thompson, Jake Shumpert, Spencer Rickman & Anthony Fiacco.  All six of these wrestlers have not only participated in Harrison’s team workouts this summer, but have also worked double session with Team Georgia’s training.  Harrison High School and our community are very proud of these young men for their sacrifice and dedication to the sport of wrestling.  You can follow them this week on http://www.TrackWrestling.com.

The culmination of an oustanding 12 month wrestling season came Saturday for Spencer Rickman and Anthony Fiacco as they join an exclusive list of Georgia Tripple Crown winners.  The Georgia Triple Crown is awarded to a wrestler who win the state title in all three styles of wrestling in one calendar year.  Folkstyle which is the traditional high style of wrestling held in the winter season.  Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling is the spring and summer wrestling that is the styles that are part of the olympic competition.  Spencer and Anthony won the Dixie Nationals Championships in 2009.

Newcomer Deuce White claimed a state title in freestly and greco-roman at Saturday’s event.  Junior Trent Arwood placed third in the state in the Freestyle competition and fourth in the Greco-Roman.  Sophmore Patrick Curry and youth wrestler Roderick White took second place in their respective divisions.

Summer Wrestling makes for winter champions.

Harrison had six wrestlers compete in the greco-roman and freestyle tournaments held on Saturday at Alexander High School in Douglasville.

Cody Terrell won first place in both styles. Cody also had a five point throw in the greco-roman competition. Dylan Law placed 4th in Greco-Roman, but came back to take 2nd in the freestyle division. Sven Cowart also competed on Saturday, placing fifth in the Grco-Roman division. Sven had an injury to his elbow and prevented him from competing in the freestyle division. All three of these wrestlers were in the same weight class which paired the weights from 133 to 140lbs.

In the 118lb class, Kevin Bell and Lucas Dumaine wrestled in the greco-roman tournament. They found themselves in the toughest weight class of the day. In this weight class was a 4A and 1A state champion from last season. Both wrestlers held their own. Kevin Bell even had the eventually winner of the tournament on his back during their match.

And in the 126 to 130 weight class, Spencer Rickman finished second in both the greco-roman and freestyle tournaments. Our wrestlers had a solid tournament for the first season of the year.

The Club is hosting their annual freestyle and greco tournament in two weeks on April 18th. The entire Club is expected to compete in this event. Plan come out and support the team.

Tuesday night’s 2008-09 Harrison High School wrestling banquet was a huge success. Many impressive awards were handed out to the wresters, wrestlerettes and other supportive individuals. The event was held in the cafeteria at the high school and was symbolic as it demonstrated a change in the entire wrestling program. It was clear at the end of the night that the wrestling program is in good hands and headed in the right direction. There were many individual awards for performance on the mat as well as achievement in the classroom. A complete list of the awards can be found in the agenda on the parent info page at : http://harrisonwrestling.com/highSchool_parent.php 

An important part of the banquet was an induction of several people into the Harrison High School Wrestling Hall of Fame. Kristen Calvanelli and Bethany Poplin became the first two wrestlerettes inducted into the Harrison High School Wrestling Hall of Fame. Also inducted were Steve & Chris Medved for their involvement in the program in many different positions.

The top JV awards were given to Nick Thompson (Most Valuable JV Wrestler), Dylan Law (Most Improved JV Wrestler), Trent Arwood (Coaches Award), Dylan Pugh (Iron Man), and Patrick Curry (Hoya Pride). Coach Fiacco concluded the JV awards by explaining that they had the potential to be a state championship team within the next couple years. However, Coach cautioned that they would need to continue the dedication and training in order to achieve this level of success. A challenge was made to each of the wrestlers to commit to become the best that they could. Coach described that he was giving them the opportunity to work year round in an effort to accomplish their goals.

The top varsity awards are two-tiered. First, there was an Outstanding Varsity Performance Award given to six wrestlers. These were trophies with a specialized engraving on the base. The recipients of this award were KJ, Bell, Ryan Wendt, Lucas Mosher, Alex Condon, Peter Mosher and Jared York. The second set of top awards for the varsity were Most Improved – Will Mifflin, Iron Man Award – Peter Mosher, Hoya Pride Award - Kyle Harris, Coach’s Award – Alex Condon, and Most Valuable Wrestler award won by KJ Bell. KJ Bell also gave a very emotional speech thanking everyone that has helped make his high school wrestling experience so special. KJ’s special thanks to Coach Fiacco was extra special as he described how the coach has had a tremendous influence on his life in general.

One of the many wrestlerette awards given was the honor to the captains of this year’s squad Claire Brummeler, Melissa Volpe, Shelby Gaccetta and Sarah Davis. There was also a very exciting announcement at the banquet with the news that Marie Bruner is going to come out of retirement to take the helm as the Wrestlerette Sponsor.

In all, the banquet was a huge success. There were many committed parents who went way beyond to make the event a hit. Leading the way in this crew were Pam Bell, Karen Smith and Lori Pugh. 

It was clear that the program was first class as was apparent by the thought that went into the banquet. Also the quality and look of the medals, certificates, trophies and gifts were second to none. Keeping this in mind, it is a good time to put out a plea for support in our fundraising drive. We have many fundraising opportunities coming up in the near future. Please do all you can to help continue the funding of our children and their wrestling program. It is quite evident that great things are being done with these funds and a positive impact is being made on the young ladies’ and gentlemans’ lives.

The 2008-2009 wrestling season came to a close on Saturday night at the Gwinnett Civic Center. The Harrison Hoya wrestling season finished a strong 11th place in Coach Fiacco’s first season as the Hoya Head Coach.

Harrison also had three individual placers at this year’s state tournament. KJ Bell finished the season as the 125lb runnerup. This was the second year KJ made it to the state finals. Harrison’s two other state placers were Lucas and Peter Mosher. Lucas finished in sixth place at 112lbs. Peter finished as fourth in the state at 119lbs.

 The young Harrison Hoya wrestling team has big shoes to fill after the strong representation made this year by the senior class. The Hoyas lose five starters this year, four of which won the region tournament. Rumor has it that Harrison has a few upcoming eigth graders that may make some noise next year.

The varsity wrestlers who qualified for sectionals were not sure what to expect heading into the weekend’s last qualifier for the 5A State Tournament.  This was the first year for the regional > sectional > state format. In this format the boys had to place in the top eight to make the state tournament.   This would not be quite as easy as it sounded though, as there are only two sectional tournaments (east and west) in the state at the 5A level.  Whereas, the State’s 16-man field would incorporate the 8 from each of the two sectionals.

The Hoyas advanced three with Lucas Mosher (4th) at 112lb, Peter Mosher (5th) at 119lb, and KJ Bell (5th) at 125lb.  Harrison had two wrestlers who competed but came up a bit short.  First year wrestler, Ryan Wendt, ended a strong season with a close loss at 103lb.  Meanwhile, Alex Condon was one place away (9th) from making the state tournament in a very competitive weight class at 135lb.  The tournament actually placed thru 10th place in case a wrestler who qualified for state was not able to compete.  If this were to happen then Alex would be first alternate to attend the big dance.  Regional Champion, Jared York, riddled with several medical issues was not able to compete in this tournament.

The Harrison Hoya wrestlers went 4 for 4 Saturday evening at the regional tournament at McEachern High School.  Regional winners were Lucas Mosher at 112lbs, Peter Mosher at 119lbs, KJ Bell at 125lbs, and Jared York at 152lbs.

Also placing in the top four at region were Ryan Wendt at 103lbs and Alex Condon at 135lbs.  All six of the wrestlers have qualified for next weekends sectional tournament in Lowndes County.  The top eight from sectionals will qualify for state.