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Warming up with wrestling

Truth be told, I’m ready for the month of March to get here with spring.

As it currently stands, it looks like there is going to be a long wait until we get some warm weather.

However, one place where it’s always hot and heated is on the wrestling mat and fans of grappling have several options to take in what should be some good action both this weekend and next weekend.

While next weekend will feature the West Virginia Duals at Parkersburg’s Memorial Fieldhouse as well as the Bob Zide Rumble at Williamstown, this weekend mat fans can make the trek to Mt. Zion to take in the nine-team Calhoun County Invitational or head to Huntington and the Big Sandy Superstore Arena to watch the always entertaining WSAZ Invitational.

Parkersburg South, fresh off its Ohio Valley Athletic Conference crown, will be out for a repeat title when the WSAZ gets underway at 1:15 p.m. Friday.

The only top seeds from the area at the WSAZ are Ripley 138-pounder Lucas Simpkins and Patriot 195-pounder Justin Allman, who many fans are hoping to see square off against No. 2 seed Noah Adams of Independence on Saturday night.

Simpkins, who won a WSAZ title last year at 132, is the only area grappler going after his second career crown. The other is Roane County’s Cam Moore, who is seeded second at 120 behind St. Albans’ Josh Humphreys. Moore won the 113-pound WSAZ crown in 2014.

First-year Calhoun County head coach Brian Ritchie, whose squad placed 10th last week at the Winner’s Choice, said Saturday’s home invitational is expected to go no matter what Mother Nature ends up bringing.

The current plan is for wrestlers to have weigh-ins from 8:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. with action slated to start at 10:30.

“If worse comes to worse, we’ll change our weigh-ins from 10 to 11:30 and give the state road a chance to get things going,” said the coach, who noted if that comes to fruition the first matches should get underway at noon.

Along with the host Red Devils, Williamstown, St. Marys, Webster County, Clay County, Sissonville, Poca, Nicholas County and Morgantown are slated to be in the field. Defending champion Braxton County, which topped the Red Devils 165-152.5 for last winter’s team title, was originally in the field but opted not to come.

For many area mat teams, injuries have played a big role thus far into the season.

That holds true for coach Ritchie, whose squad is still competing without the services of 126-pounder Houstin McCune. McCune is expected to return from a broken arm prior to the Little Kanawha Conference tournament.

Expected 160-pound Class AA/A state champion Cole Ritchie continues to etch his name in the Calhoun County wrestling history books.

He’s already surpassed the former school mark of 167 career wins previously held by three-time state champ Cody Clark.

“He should beat the (most) pins record and overall points, too,” added the coach, who noted Cole has 97 pins and Clark’s school record is 113.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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