WINCHESTER — Alex Sardelis’ steady career climb at the Judges Invitational ended with him reaching the mountaintop in spectacular fashion on Saturday.
The Handley High School senior not only won his weight class at his school’s annual home tournament for the first time, but he also went home with the Most Outstanding Wrestler award for the light weights.
Sardelis placed 13th at 106 pounds as a freshman, fifth at 106 as a sophomore, and second at 113 last year as a junior. On Saturday, Sardelis (32-5) won all four of his matches at 120 by bonus points, including three by first-period fall. He also had a major decision.
Handley coach Troy Mezzatesta enjoyed seeing Sardelis’ dominant performance.
“It’s been a long time coming for him,” Mezzatesta said. “To see all of the hard work that he’s put in and come away with the Most Outstanding light weight Wrestler and to win a championship in his senior year is super special.”
Junior Jace Culotta (126) and senior Thomas Thorpe (175) gave Handley three individual champions, tying fourth-place Stafford (374.5) for the most gold medalists in the 16-team competition. Fairfax won with 460 points and Powhatan was second with 439. James Wood finished the tournament in third place with 381 points and Handley came in fifth with 348. Clarke County was 12th with 195 points.
Coming into Saturday, both James Wood and Handley were dealing with injuries or illnesses up and down their lineups. As a result, they were forced to opt for a “next man up” approach, giving starting nods to some younger wrestlers in the tournament.
With the Region 4D tournament on Feb. 7, James Wood head coach Cory Crenshaw said that his team’s health was his top priority entering Saturday. The Colonels continue to be without state champion Hayden Black (120). Austin Noble didn’t compete at 150, and Isaiah Hodel medically forfeited his final two matches at 126 to place fourth after winning his only two pool matches by fall. Kingston Aikens stepped in and went 3-2 at 150 to place seventh.
“It’s that time of year where we’re just trying to stay healthy,” Crenshaw said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who are banged up, so we ended up sitting some of our guys today and started a few backups who wrestled outstandingly. Considering what we came with today, I think we performed pretty well.”
Mezzatesta, echoed Crenshaw’s sentiment. Among the Judges who didn’t compete on Saturday was Max Boula at 113.
“I told the team to just wrestle for the guys who can’t be here,” Mezzatesta said. “The standard is it doesn’t matter who’s here. The people who are here, you’re good enough to compete, so go out and prove it.”
So, with lineups hobbled together, the two teams laced up their wrestling shoes and went to work.
Sardeiis was happy with his performance and looked forward to closing out the season strong. He pinned Powhatan’s Christian Rich in 1:27 in the title match.
“I was pretty confident today,” Sardelis said. “I was ready to go in all of my matches. I felt like I was aggressive all day long. I hope I can make a solid run at regionals and just go from here on out.”
Culotta (20-0) entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed in his bracket, and his ranking held true to form throughout the day. He defeated all four of his opponents by technical fall, including 15-0 in 1:21 over Powhatan’s Brady Beard in the final.
Culotta was pleased with how his matches went, and visualized how they could set him up for success as the regular season winds down.
“I felt really good in neutral today and my aggression really made the difference,” Culotta said. “I’m proud that I was able to contribute bonus points wins to the team’s points total. My goal moving forward is to just keep working toward my ultimate goal of winning a state championship.”
Thorpe (32-2) defended his tournament crown from last year’s Judges Invitational at 175 pounds. His opponent, James Wood’s Jesse Woodson (32-2) was a familiar foe — the two split their first two meetings this season. As a result, their matchup at this tournament was one to watch for local wrestling fans.
After Thorpe took a 3-0 lead in the first period, the pair traded two-point reversals in the second, which ended with Thorpe up 5-3. After more flurries of points in the final period, Thorpe eventually emerged victorious in a 10-5 decision.
Mezzatesta was proud of his senior grappler’s effort in a back-and-forth bout, and thinks Thorpe is rounding into form when it matters most.
“For Thomas, it’s all about hitting the gas,” Mezzatesta said. “Today he didn’t have a third-period gas-out and he had more in the tank. I think we’re starting to amp him up and I was impressed with his performance out there today.”
The Judges look ahead to their final regular season tournaments before entering the postseason with ambitious goals. After an eight-place finish at the Region 4D tournament last year, Handley has its sights on being competitive in the state tournament.
“We’re getting there,” Mezzatesta said. “We’ve got to get healthy and it’s going to take everyone. I think that we have a lot of kids who have the potential to be state qualifiers, and big tournaments like this with a lot of talent really show us that.”
Handley was also led by Carson Otto (third at 157, 4-1, 3 pins, 1 tech fall); Henry Buelow (fourth at 165, 3-2, 2 pins, 1 tech fall); and Qadar Valizadah (fifth at 150, 4-1, 3 pins).
For James Wood, Saturday’s tournament was all about improving depth and perfecting techniques to prepare for the postseason.
The Colonels sent two grapplers to the finals of their respective divisions in Woodson and Sean Hodel (26-3). Hodel recorded three falls and a major decision before dropping the championship bout at 165 pounds to Fairfax’s Kross Cassidy, who is committed to wrestle for George Mason University next year. Cassidy won by a 17-1 technical fall in 3:07.
Crenshaw thought his team wrestled well despite being shorthanded.
“Today was a little bit of an off day for us, but that’s just how competitions go sometimes,” Crenshaw said. “But you also look at the teams we were competing with today, and you see that there are really good wrestlers up and down the mats. So I’m happy with how it turned out.”
Coming off of its first region championship since 2007 last year, James Wood hopes to repeat its postseason success in 2026. It hopes its work ultimately culminates in a top finish in the state tournament.
“The boys know how hard we work in the room, and if we stay together then we can continue seeing these positive outcomes,” Crenshaw said. “We want to be a top-5 team in the state this year, but it won’t be easy. There are a lot of good kids in this region this season. So we just have to maintain the mindset that we’ve got now.”
James Wood was also led by Owen Bond (third at 106, 4-1, 4 pins); Isaac Bond (third at 190, 4-1, 4 pins); Hayden Franks (fifth at 144, 4-1, 2 tech falls, 1 major decision); and Kaiden Tidwell (fifth at 138, 3-1, 1 pin).
Clarke County head coach Logan Withers believed his team displayed a lot of toughness from start to finish.
“I’m extremely happy with how today went,” Withers said. “We had a few guys surprise the heck out of us today and make a difference for us. I think we saw a lot of improvement and also a couple of areas where we could be better.”
The Eagles sent sophomore Matthew Mayr (25-4) to the finals of the 132-pound division, where he was defeated by Stafford’s Danny Gatto (11-3 major decision). Mayr pinned each of his first four foes.
“I was very proud of Matt, especially because of how young he is and how well he competed,” Withers said. “I told him that this match is just a stepping stone and gives him a roadmap for how to get better. It’s not about his skills not being good enough. It just shows him how he can improve, that’s all.”
This incremental, process-over-placement philosophy is how Withers said his program is built, and the Eagles’ head coach believed his group would continue to buy in.
“I tell them to ‘earn the fun,’” Withers said. “Everybody likes the results. Winning a medal is fun. But all the grueling hours that you put into practice might not be so fun. Everything is an opportunity to get better. That’s how I try to teach them to approach their wrestling, to not be so outcome-driven. That’s the message that I preach to them week in and week out, and I can see their progress as a result.”
Clarke County was also led by Barrett Stemberger (fifth at 113, 4-1, 2 pins, 1 tech fall, 1 major decision).