West Fairmont Middle School wins big at WSAZ
Jan. 31—FAIRMONT — Coming into the WSAZ wrestling tournament in Huntington, Bubby Caputo called it the equivalent of a state tournament for his West Fairmont Middle School Polar Bear Cubs.
"I've been doing this for five or six years," Caputo said. "And this is what us and all the schools in the state consider to be — we don't have an official state tournament, so this is our big show. This is what we work towards. Just being able to perform like we did, it's really awesome."
If the stage was indeed that big, it did not phase the young grapplers from West Fairmont, and indeed East Fairmont too, as the two teams came away with multiple podium placements and tournament champions over the two days of competition, Friday and Saturday, at Mountain Health Arena.
Among a field of 62 schools from West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia, West Fairmont placed fifth in the tournament, with three wrestlers earning a spot on the podium and two more winning the whole thing in their respected weight classes.
"This is a tournament that we work for all year," Caputo said. "They've really showed that they were ready for it. We had three in the finals, and had two win it. I don't know if, in our school history, we've ever had two champions in one year. That was amazing on their part."
East Fairmont placed 20th, and earned one champion and one other podium placer for their efforts.
From West Fairmont, King Abercrombie won the heavyweight division via pin only 30 seconds into the finals match. Dylan Apanowicz won out at 215, also scoring a pin in the championship match after 1:38 had passed.
Abercrombie and Apanowicz were part of a memorable moment during their respective finals matches on Saturday. The tournament had decreased the number of matches from 12 to four for the championship bouts, with two high school matches and two middle school matches taking place.
The heavyweight and 215-pound finals matches took to the mat at the same time. With all eyes on them, Abercrombie and Apanowicz wrestled — and emerged victorious — almost in unison.
"They've worked their whole wrestling career thus far for that moment," Caputo said. "It's a big deal and for them both to win it together made for a great moment."
Apanowicz' victory made him 45-0 on the season.
Abercrombie defeated Huntington's Jeremiah Lyles, who had defeated him twice earlier in the season. Abercrombie finished with a 41-4 record.
West Fairmont's Ryder Moran finished as runner-up at 171. Hayden Spitznogle finished fifth at 116 and Rudy Carillo finished eighth at 128.
East Fairmont's own Tony Preolitti defeated all comers to win the 135-pound weight class, while teammate Bryan Phillips placed third at 128.
Hurricane took first place at the tournament, with Edison, Jackson, Mountaineer and West Fairmont rounding out the Top 5.
The WSAZ Tournament had 16 weight classes compete. West Fairmont brought 13 competitors — Mathew Stalnaker, Dominick Frisenda, Jimmy Hershman, Hayden Spitznogle, Cooper Urse, Rudy Carrillo, Grayson Dinger, Savion Huggins, Walter Eshenaur, Ryder Moran, Jeffery Swain, Dylan Apanowicz and King Abercrombie.
Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.
