The annual Winner’s Choice Wrestling Tournament in Fairmont is considered one of the elite regular season events in West Virginia. This part weekend, Bridgeport High School stood its ground in the event.
BHS finished in 11th place out of 33 teams in the Marion County competition
“I am happy with our performance. The effort is there,” said Coach Chris Courtney. “The team is evolving as we should at this stage in the season.”
Bridgeport had several wrestlers place with Derek Starkey finishing the highest. Starkey took home third place in the 145-pound classification.
“Derek had a great tournament. He is a competitor. He is wrestling smarter and evolving his style of wrestling,” said Courtney.
Several other wrestlers placed fifth and sixth. Aiden Gibson at 160 and JT Muller at 170 were fifth, while Kamar Summers in heavyweight and Kemo Summers at 152 were both sixth.
“I was impressed with everyone’s performance. This is a tough tournament. There was a lot of close matches. We look at every tournament or dual match as practice for the regionals and state. We got to work Monday on some areas we can get better,” said Courtney. “We need to take what we learned at the Winner's Choice and just get better.
“I am really impressed with the bond being created by this team. Wrestling is an individual sport, but matches are won in the practice room. We have seen better focus and dedication over the last couple weeks. Everyone in the room benefits,” he continued. “If they continue to ‘clock-in’ and put in the work, we will continue to get better.”
Bridgeport is back in action Friday with action in Harrison County at the Mountaineer Matchup The two-day event at the Nathan Goff Armory will begin at 4 p.m. Friday and continue at 10 a.m. on Saturday. It is a duals tournament.
Check back to Connect-Bridgeport later this week for a gallery from the competition.
Editor's Note: Photos from the Winner's Choice event by Theo Frick of www.benqueenphotography.com.
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