Gallery by Jen LewisÂ
Baseball season is still a couple weeks away but Beckley still hit a grand slam on championship Saturday night at the 2024 Boys State Wrestling Tournament.
Sending four wrestlers to the championship round, the “Fabulous Flying Eagle Foursome” stood tall above the rest.
Garrett Johnson (113), Tyler Roark (132), Jimmie Bailes (138) and Vance Neal (157) all etched their name in Beckley wrestling history by having their hands raised at the end of the match.
“This is incredible and a lot of fun. It’s almost the most fun I have ever had. Especially when you win, it definitely is,” Beckley wrestling head coach Matt Osborne. “They were prepared and ready for it. When you are ready for a test, it is fun to take a test when you are ready for it.”
Johnson was the first to hit the mat Saturday night after a dominant run to the finals.
Entering the match at the No. 1 seed, Johnson (53-1) quickly showed why by bossing Ian Cornell from Buckhannon-Upshur in an 8-0 decision.
Johnson led 5-0 after the first period and was never challenged the rest of the way.
Prior to beating Cornell, who was the No. 2 ranked wrestler in the state, Johnson pinned No. 3 Kaiden Nieman (University) in the semifinals and shutout (5-0) No. 5 L.J. Anderson (Cabell Midland) in the quarterfinals.
“I just had to look at the end goal. Not focusing on winning, just focus on scoring points after every period,” Johnson said.
Johnson also won the state title last year at 106 pounds. The win gave Beckley it’s first back-to-back champion since John Summers pulled off the feat back in 1955.
“That feels pretty good, especially since I didn’t know that,” Johnson said.
Three matches later, Roark stepped in against No. 1 ranked Jacob Perry from Spring Mills.
Roark entered the match having won his previous three matches by pins over Reese Kelly (Parkersburg South), No. 6 Carter Adkins (John Marshall) and No. 5 Lars Cooper (Parkersburg).
The battle with Perry was a dogfight to the finish.
Battling numerous stoppages for blood coming from Perry who took the early lead, Roark rallied to tie the match entering the final period at 4-4.
With just over a minute remaining in regulation, Perry secured a take-down for a 6-4 advantage. Roark immediately worked an escape to move back within one point.
Having received a warning earlier in the match for stalling, Perry failed to make an offensive move down the stretch, costing him a point which sent the match to overtime tied at 6-6.
Thirty seconds into the sudden-victory overtime period, Roark turned Perry for a take-down and the 8-6 win for Beckley’s second back-to-back champion of the night.
Roark won his first title last year at 126 pounds.
“Actual blood bath,” Osborne said about the dramatic win for Roark. “That kid was banged up a little bit anyway. It was just a battle and was brutal. Tyler did what Tyler does. He fought the whole match and doesn’t panic. He always has points in their somewhere. He is like a magician and a lot of fun to coach.”
For his part, Roark pointed to crucial hours spent in practice as being the difference maker in the grueling match.
“It was just having good cardio. It was from pushing in the mat room to keep the pace up and never letting down,” Roark said. “I had a better gas tank. You have to always push.”
Osborne spoke about the cardio level for his team as well.
“Tyler has a good gas tank. All my guys are in shape. We are training and wrestling as hard as we can,” Osborne said. “They are some big solid wrestlers that go 50-60 minutes at a time to have a gas tank like that.”
Roark also related the decisive move in overtime to his work in the mat room this year.
“I had hit it in practice a good bit. I felt it open, so I hit it and it was there. It feels really good,” Roark Said.
Bailes walked onto the mat the No. 1 ranked wrestler at 138 with a 56-0 record over a season where he clearly was wrestling with a purpose.
After becoming Beckley’s first individual state champion since 1999 as a freshman, Bailes finished runner-up last year.
“Losing last year really motivated me to get better,” Bailes said. “I have been training as hard as I can to get back on top of the podium this year.”
Pins over Tyler Woofter (Bridgeport) and No. 6 ranked Tristan Rucker (Jefferson) in less that two minutes preceded a 14-1 win over No. 4 Garrett Arthur (Huntington) in the semis.
Leading 5-0 after one period, Bailes won by technical fall (15-0) against No. 3 Simon Imboden from Parkersburg.
“In the mat room, you just have to focus on things that you are not really good at,” Bailes said. “I was kind of slow on my feet at the start and couldn’t get a take-down like I wanted to. I just have to focus on tie ups and getting better at that.”
The path to the state title for Neal was a bumpy ride and could almost be considered a miracle journey.
Following a knee injury in October and subsequent surgery in November, Neal was back on the mat in December.
Listed as the No. 5 wrestler in the 157 pound weight class, Neal opened the tournament with a 7-3 win over No. 10 Chance Funari from Wheeling Park Thursday night.
Friday afternoon it was a clash with No. 6 Braxton Johnson (Cabell Midland) in a 5-3 win before a tough 3-2 win over No. 3 Ethan Kay from Ripley later that night in the semifinals.
In order to the secure the championship, Neal needed to beat No. 4 Ross Smelser from Spring Mills.
A take-down in the final seconds of the first period gave Neal the early lead, but Smelser answered in the second with an escape and a take-down for a 3-2 advantage.
As the clock ticked inside one minute in the second stanza, Neal secured a reversal for the lead, but later surrendered a stalling point for a 4-4 tie.
With three seconds on the clock, Smelser escaped to take a 5-4 lead into the final two minutes.
Undaunted by the deficit, Neal immediately escaped and went on the attack where he took Smelser to the mat for a pin just 25 seconds into the final period.
“I still don’t believe I am here right now,” Neal said, smiling. “It is really all of my teammates that give me that momentum to get out there, showing what I can do in practice and stuff. No stress on me at all. They all push me, give me stuff to take away and stuff to work on in the mat room. They knew what I needed more than I did. I had a goal and I envisioned it.”
Last year Neal won a dramatic match to secure fifth place which sent him jumping into his dad’s arms after the match. That scene repeated itself Saturday night, this time as a state champion.
“Vance just showed what he can do. That is all that is. We have talked about that in the mat room,” Osborne said. “Everyone of the guys possess the ability. They have the capabilities, it is just the will do.”
Neals’s win gave Beckley its eighth individual title in the last three seasons.
“My guys are excited to wrestle and love this sport. That is the way it should be,” Osborne said.
University won the team title, while Parkersburg South was second and Beckley was third for its fourth straight top-10 finish.
Independence standout Jesse Adams (45-3) entered the 175-pound Class AA-A final as the No. 1 ranked wrestler against No. 2 Gavin Michael from Fairmont Senior.
Just a sophomore, Adams pinned Robert C. Byrd senior Aiden Conley in the opening round prior to a 15-0 technical fall win over No. 4 Waylon Cartwright from Oak Glen Friday afternoon.
Adams punched his ticket to the finals with a 7-4 semifinal win against No. 3 Klypsan Wallace from Cameron.
Leading 2-0 after the first period, Adams secured a 9-1 major decision win over the Polar Bear senior.
The win comes on the heels of Adams winning the state title at 165 pounds as a freshman.
Defending Class A state champion Greenbrier West finished runner-up Saturday to Wheeling Central, while Point Pleasant secured the overall AA-A title.
In the first ever girls state tournament, Liberty placed second behind Parkersburg South, less than five points behind the Patriots.
Four area ladies finished runner-up Saturday night including Kirclyn Coleman (120) from Oak Hill, Rylei Belcher (138) and Maddy Lucas (235) from Liberty, along with Brooke Bennett (185) from Princeton.
State Wrestling Tournament Place Winners
Boys
AAA Place Winners
3rd Place
106 – Jackson Woods, Beckley
138 – Kaden Stone, Greenbrier East
Fourth Place
144 – Troy Harris, Beckley
Sixth Place
215 – Landon Jones, Beckley
AA-A Place Winners
Third Place
120 – Tucker Lilly, Greenbrier West
215 – Cole Vandall, Greenbrier West
Fourth Place
138 – Hunter Whitaker, Independence
157 – Moses Gray, Greenbrier West
Fifth Place
106 – J.J. Scarafino, Independence
113 – Gavin Brown, Liberty
190 – Gabe Knoblet, Shady Spring
Sixth Place
106 – Matthew Kesterson, Greenbrier West
113 – Austin McKenzie , Greenbrier West
175 – Braelen Holstein, Shady Spring
Girls Place Winners
Third Place
100 – Brooklynn McClure, Shady Spring
120 – Maya Frank, Greenbrier East
126 – Kenzie Taylor, Independence
132 – Karlie Osborne, Liberty
138 – Makennzie Hanshaw, Nicholas County
185 – Allie Bowles – Liberty
Fourth Place
145 – Abigail Honaker, Shady Spring
152 – Lucy Farris, Liberty
