The Big Orange wrestlers of William Byrd finished a solid fourth in the annual Titan Toughman
wrestling tournament at Hidden Valley High School last week. Byrd also had an individual champ with
Darin Witcher winning the top prize at 106.
PH won the championship with 252 points, followed by Lord Botetourt with 211. Cave Spring was
third with 199, Byrd was fourth with 180.5 and Salem was fifth at 174.5. There were 22 teams that scored.
“I was proud of our performance,” said Byrd coach Thomas Kessler. “For most of us it was our first
ever high school tournament.”
Witcher improved to 7-1 on the season with three pins in the tournament. His pin in the
championship round was in 1:11 over teammate Lane Brunk. Witcher is a sophomore and Brunk is a
freshman.
“They’ll keep our lower weights solid for years to come,” said Kessler.
Graylen Castleberry took a second at 175, making the final before falling to undefeated Zackary
Cummings of Christiansburg. Graylen is 3-1 and this was his first action since coming out for the team after
the prolonged football season concluded with the state semifinal.
Stephen Underwood wrestled back to third at 165. Underwood lost in the quarterfinals for his only
loss in a dozen matches. He had to win six straight matches in the consolation bracket to place third.
Also placing were Aidan Lucas with a fourth at 190, freshman Zane Taylor with a fourth at 126, and
two sixth places, freshman Brandon Hurley at 150 and Kyle Kalinke at 113.
The Terriers were scheduled to host Northside on Wednesday of this week. The annual Big Orange
Classic, at William Byrd High School, will be December 22 and 23. Wrestling begins at 9:30 am on that
Friday and 10 am on Saturday.
