Trio crowned

Orange County High School had three wrestlers crowned AAA Commonwealth District Champions at Saturday’s district wrestling meet at the OCHS Hornet Sports Center.

As many OCHS teams struggled this season with the move up to AAA, the Orange wrestlers (along with the Hornet swimmers) have proven competitive against the larger schools. After a full day of wrestling Saturday, the Hornets finished in second place behind Colonial Forge and will advance to the Regional tournament next weekend at Forest Park High School.

In addition to the wrestlers’ success, longtime OCHS coach John Kayajanian was named Commonwealth District co-coach of the year for his team’s stellar season.

Hornet Ryan Almond (152) cruised to his district title going undefeated in three matches. He opened with a 9-1 major decision over Stafford’s Jacob Baron and followed that up with an 11-0 blanking of North Stafford’s Jacob Gwaltney. Almond had little trouble in the finals either, whipping Colonial Forge’s Adam Sinnot 9-1 to take the title.

Sean Raftery (160) wasn’t seriously tested until his final match on the way to his district title. He opened with a 7-1 decision over Mountain View’s Jamie Barter and backed it up by pinning Riverbend’s Vinnie Perrone. In the finals, he beat Brooke Point’s Bill Ramsey 5-4 to take the title.

The Hornets’ final champion was Billy Knabe (285). Knabe opened his title run by pinning Stafford’s Sebastian Silva and than pinning Mountain View’s Trevor Staats. He earned the Hornets’ third title when he pinned Brooke Point’s Shawn Scudder in the finals.

Orange also had two runners-up Saturday with Mike Benner (145) and Zach Ryder (170) each falling in the finals.

Benner had a first-round bye and pinned North Stafford’s Eric Mazariski to move into the semifinals. There, he topped Mountain View’s Danny Soares 4-2 before falling to Colonial Forge’s Sean Murphy in the finals.

Ryder also had a first-round bye and pinned Riverbend’s Kacsey Platt to make it to the semifinals. There, he beat North Stafford’s Jacob Ralph 6-0 before falling to champion Zach Martinez of Colonial Forge in the finals.

In other action, Kirk Sweeney (132) and Trevor Payne (182) finished third, while Isiah Coleman-Combs (106), Hugh Morris (126), Bruce Schlegel (138) and Tyler Dodson (195) all finished fourth.

The Hornets placed second with 194.5 points, behind winner Colonial Forge (302) in the nine-team district.