CENTREVILLE WRESTLING

The Mat Cats of Centreville had a few firsts this weekend at the Mayhem at Millbrook Tournament. Ryan Sepulveda was the lone champion, but there was much to be proud of. For the first time this season, the Wildcats crowned a champion and put a wrestler, two in fact, in the finals of a tournament. For Connor Mitchell (132) and Will Fulton (152), it was their first tournament placing as high school wrestlers. Mitchell finished 5th and had a strong showing as did Will Fulton who finished 6th. Will had to forfeit his 5th – 6th place match due to an injury. The Wildcat junior wanted to compete, but the coaching staff yanked him from the match in an attempt to limit further damage as District matches are slated for the upcoming week. Mitchell wrestled a solid tournament keeping the score in his favor and dominating his 5th place match for his first ever HS medal.
Also placing for Centreville were David Chenevey, Joey Steinbach, and Tyler Love. Co-Captain David Chenevey demonstrated some of his best wrestling of his career commented head coach John Belyea. Chenevey has really turned a corner and shown the athleticism that he will need to make a run at a Northern Region Title and place in the State Tournament. Chenevey’s biggest test was one he had to overcome himself. In a battle with the second seed from St. Christopher’s Chenevey dug deep to ride the Saint star in the final period of over time to earn the win. The win set David up for a fairly easy trip to the finals where he ran into Nationally Ranked Joseph Jessen. Jessen took the match bringing a disappointing finish to Chenevey’s great tournament.
220 pounder Joey Steinbach wrestled a competitive tournament, shaking off a semi final loss to fight back for a third place medal. Coming in fifth for the Wildcats was freshman Tyler Love. Love lost a quarter final bout dropping him into the consolation bracket where he faught back to the consi-semis. Getting behind early, Love made a late run in his consolation semi final match, but simply ran out of time, knocking him into the 5th and 6th place bout where Tyler prevailed giving him 5th place honors.
Micheal Vu, came up one match short of placing, and if not for some late match mistakes, he was well on his way to the podium. Also picking up wins for the Wildcats were Chung Do Kim, Dillon Dull, Will Johnson, and Jason Park.
As a team the Mat cats finished 6th in the 17 tean field. Next up for Centreville is a dual meet with Chantilly at home on Wednesday January 11th. The evening will begin with youth wrestling, a JV dual, and finally the varsity match.