Fluvanna County’s wrestling program had to fight for its season after being put on hold by the school board apart from other schools. Charlottesville’s wrestlers have had to wait until January to get on the mat against someone other than themselves.
Thursday night they squared off in both squads’ Jefferson District openers, with the Flucos prevailing 34-24 thanks to a series of wins in the middle weights starting with Aiden Valentine at 145 and Shawn Metcalf at 152. Metcalf and Valentine both picked up pins, with Valentine knocking off Logan McMindes from Charlottesville while Metcalf pinned Xavier Castanda. The Flucos’ Sean Oliva followed with a 15-1 tech fall win over Charlottesville’s Jory Cardoza at 160 before Alex Oliva pinned Farah Ali at 170 pounds. With a pair of late round wins by forfeit from Austin Moore and Jason Hamshar, the Flucos had enough points to hold off the Black Knights.
Charlottesville picked up points in the early weight classes with Pyi Khant and Esmat Amirkhan winning by forfeit. But the Black Knights got strong back-to-back wins from Owen Lindsay at 132 by pin and Aiden Lewandowski at 138 by pin.
In exhibition action, Alyssa Williams of Charlottesville defeated Emma Dillon 13-1 by tech fall and the Flucos’ Sam Stoltz pinned Jalil Akbari.
Fluvanna will next get on the mat Thursday when the Flucos host Louisa County, while the Black Knights are scheduled for a multi-team match at Orange County Monday afternoon.
