By Marty Gordon
The winter wrestling and swim seasons might be a little different because of COVID-19, but the results were not at least in region competition this past weekend as Christiansburg High School claimed the Region 3D wrestling title while the Radford boys repeated as 1C swimming champions.
While the pandemic restrictions have limited the number of national tournaments the Blue Demons have been able to attend, they still dominated the regional competition Saturday at Christiansburg High School. Eight first-place wrestlers powered the Blue Demons to 223 points. William Byrd finished second with 189.5 and Northside third at 165 points.
For Christiansburg, the winners were Junior Policarpo at 113, Ethan Slaughter at 132, Luke Robie at 138, Dawson Gragg 145, Jake Baier 170, Parker Ferrell 182 and Aiden Lacoma at 285.
The team will get a chance at another state title this week at the Salem Civic Center.
In the 1C swimming competition at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center, Radford High finished first with 164 points ahead of James River’s 76 points in the boys’ division. The Radford girls were second with 92 points behind Glenvar, which claimed the championship with 144 points.
The Radford boys are the defending state champion and will get a chance to swim for another title this week at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. Graham Minarik (200 medley and 100 breaststroke) and Stone Fisher (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle) each won two events for the Highlanders.
Meanwhile the Auburn boys’ basketball team won the Mt. Empire District Tournament title with a 53-41 win over Galax. Ethan Millirons had a game-high 31 points as the only Eagle in double-figures.
Because of early deadlines, more regional and state results will appear in Saturday’s edition.
