By Stephen Henderson
Patrick County High School junior wrestler Brian Lange (113 lbs.) overcame a concussion early in the season to fight back and finish fourth in last weekend’s VHSL 3A West Region Tournament at Christiansburg High School.
He will be the lone Cougar vying for a spot at the State 3A Tournament this weekend at Salem Convention Center.
Lange won his first two matches with pins. He fell to Northside in his third match and moved to the consolation quarterfinals and beat Kahn of Waynesboro. In the semifinal round, he lost to Kuchan of Christiansburg for fourth place.
Five other Cougar wrestlers battled at the regional tournament. Ethan Rorrer (120 lbs.), Jeremy Gunter (132 lbs.) and James Lane all returned to action Saturday morning to wrestle back in consolation matches.
Tyler Stanley (140 lbs.) and Jeremiah Anderson lost both of their matches Friday and did not return Saturday.
“This has been a tough couple of weeks of wrestling through the Conference 32 and regional championships,” said Coach David Morrison. “We are really proud of all our guys who have been pushing through this entire season, striving to make themselves and their teammates better,” he added.
“Just to make it to the 3A West Regional coming out of Conference 32 is a chore. Out of 14 Regional Championship matches this past weekend, Conference 32 was represented in 13 of the final matches and came away with 10 regional champions,” he said.
“To know that we wrestle against the best in the state and are still qualifying a good number of kids for the region means a lot,” he said. “We’re very proud of all our boys,” Morrison added.
“At 113 lbs., Brian Lange really came alive this weekend. We have been stressing for the past couple of weeks to all of our guys that at this point in the season, you know who you are as a wrestler, you know where you’re good and where you’re not. It is all really about playing to your strengths at this point and working to address your weaknesses,” he stressed. “Our guys, and Brian especially, have really started to come into their own in a whole different way,” Morrison said.
“I think, start to finish, this tournament was Brian’s best performance to date. He beat some really good kids all the way through, lost some tough matches but was able to dig deep when it mattered most and come up with some big wins,” Morrison said. “We are all really proud of Brian and what he has accomplished to this point in the post season, but we know he has a great deal more wrestling left ahead of him and we are going to get started this week preparing for the state tournament,” said Morrison.
