James Wood wrestling enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent memory a year ago when it won its first region title since 2007 and placed sixth at the Class 4 state tournament.
This season, the Colonels proved their success was no fluke, winning another Region 4D championship and climbing to fourth place at states. Thanks to these achievements, head coach Cory Crenshaw is The Winchester Star’s Wrestling Coach of the Year for the second straight season and the fourth time overall.
Under Crenshaw’s leadership, the Colonels scored 231 points at the region meet en route to sending 10 wrestlers to the state tournament. Junior Hayden Black (113 pounds) and seniors Max Mooney (138) and Sean Hodel (165) won region titles, while juniors Cash Keeler (132), Hayden Franks (144), Austin Noble (150) and Jesse Woodson (175), sophomores Isaiah Hodel (126) and William Riley (157), and freshman Owen Bond (106) also reached the podium.
At the Class 4 tournament, Black won his second consecutive state title, while Mooney finished second, Woodson placed third and Hodel came in fifth. The Colonels scored 104.5 collective points.
Additionally, James Wood finished with a 22-2 dual meet record, won the Willie Walters/Jaye Copp Tournament and placed second at the Northwestern District Tournament and the David Wells Memorial Duals.
Reflecting on his team’s season, Crenshaw spoke about what clicked for the Colonels this past winter.
Q. What qualities made this team special?
Crenshaw: I think the biggest thing that we had this year is almost every one of our guys came in with experience of some nature. We didn’t lose a lot of seniors, and that really played a key factor for us. Building off of that regional title that we got the previous season, those kids, almost every one of them, came back to the team. They understood the process at this point. We didn’t have to go through the weight changes that we did the previous season, which made our year run a little bit smoother. And a lot of those guys are friends, not just in wrestling season — they’re friends outside of school. So it’s pushing each other, making each other better each and every day, in and out the room, and then just growing together as we continue to progress.
Q. What individuals impressed you or surprised you the most?
Crenshaw: I think one of the biggest improvements that we saw throughout the year was William Riley. He came to us as a freshman, not overly experienced, but he put in a lot of work throughout the offseason. He had that goal in mind of, ‘Hey, I just want to be on the varsity team, let’s start there.’ And then as the year continues to progress, he just continues to work and improve and sets himself up to make the state tournament this year, his first year on varsity. And then, he’s almost a state placewinner. He just wrestled hard throughout the year, wrestled smart, kept himself healthy and gave himself great opportunities, and that’s all we can ask for.
Q. What do you consider the most memorable moments of the season?
Crenshaw: It’s always nice to beat those cross-town rivals and things like that. But … we went down the road to wrestle a couple of teams that we’ve not wrestled before and don’t really get to see [often], and we really had to push our team a little bit and say, ‘Hey, these are regional matchups. These are things that we need to try to wrestle through, wrestle competitively against.’ And we did really well there.
We went to Loudoun County, and even though we lost two matches there, one to Loudoun County themselves and another one to Paul VI, those were two tough teams. Individually, we didn’t match up well with them, but they were good match experiences for us and those kinds of things, even though we don’t win from them, we’re getting those experiences for when we get to the postseason and trying to match up with kids of that caliber. So it’s really going to help our guys develop, and that’s what we’re going to look forward to again next year, just trying to continue to find ways to make sure our guys are prepared for when the time comes to try to make that push in the state tournament.
— Compiled by Joe Tuman