Wrestling Coach of the Year: James Wood's Cory Crenshaw

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

Mar 29, 2018

James Wood coach Cory Crenshaw is The Winchester Star Wrestling Coach of the Year for the first time in his second year at the helm. He led the Colonels to their highest finishes among Winchester-Frederick County schools at the Class 4 Northwestern District and Region 4C levels this year.

James Wood went 4-2 in district duals to take third in the standings. The Colonels beat Sherando (38-25), Millbrook (56-13) and Handley (52-10) in their dual matches this year. They went 1-2 against that trio last year.

James Wood also placed third in both the district tournament and in the Region 4C tournaments, finishing only behind Fauquier and Liberty at those events. James Wood’s 12 Region 4C qualifiers were the most of any Northwestern District school, and the Colonels’ five state qualifiers for the Class 4 state meet (James Wood tied for 26th at the meet) tied for the most among Winchester-Frederick County schools.

Also in the regular season, James Wood won its own tournament — the Willie Walters/Jaye Copp Holiday Invitational — for the first time since 2008. The Colonels also won the Max Horz Invitational at Berkeley Springs (W.Va.) High School for the third straight year.

Q. How did this season go compared to your preseason expectations?

Crenshaw: In the preseason, I thought we were going to be able to contend with Sherando and Millbrook. I thought it would be pretty tight after what happened last year, when we were close with Sherando in the dual (33-32) and Millbrook kind of blew us out (43-20). This year we turned it around on them.

Q. What stands out about this season?

Crenshaw: We were tight-knit all the way throughout the lineup. All 14 of our starters knew what we were trying to get accomplished, and everybody kind of played their own role in getting that done. We didn’t have anybody stop on us at any point this year. Everybody just kind of kept plugging along, getting good finishes for us everywhere we went.

Q. Was there any particular match or tournament that you thought was significantly important?

Crenshaw: When we won our holiday tournament this year, I thought that was big. Everybody kind of stepped up to the plate and gave everything they had going into that weekend for us. That kind of showed everybody that we could compete about anywhere we go, as long as everybody plays their role and sticks to what we’ve been working on.

Q. What was your most memorable moment?

Crenshaw: When we put 12 out of the 14 kids into regionals, that was a very big accomplishment for us. That’s something we’re going to look forward to next year, to try and match that, and kind of keep the ball rolling to compete with Fauquier and Liberty.

Q. What was your most difficult moment?

Crenshaw: When we traveled to Fauquier for a Northwestern quad. (James Wood beat Kettle Run 66-15, but lost 43-32 to Liberty and 45-25 to Fauquier.) I thought we did OK. We had an opportunity to wrestle Liberty close for a while, but that was probably the one night we had a couple of kids falter a little bit more than we thought we would. It wasn’t that we were having a bad season going on before then. But after that night everybody saw what needed to be done, and I think that really kick-started our season.

Q. What are your expectations for next year?

Crenshaw: Our goal this year was to place fourth or better every tournament, and we did that up until the state tournament. With us only losing four kids, a lot of the kids are still young, so hopefully they can keep the momentum going for themselves next year.

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki