Grapplers crown five champions at Viking Smash; Bennett eclipses 200 career wins

February 3, 2012

The Berkeley Springs High School Wrestling Team only took seven wrestlers to Petersburg last weekend for the 10 team Viking Smash Duals Tournament, and they had an outstanding weekend. Five of the seven brought home individual titles and the team finished with a surprising 6-3 record.
"I thought our kids wrestled well," said Berkeley Springs Coach Darrell Bennett. “I think we were 60-3 in our individual matches. We have our conference tournament this weekend, and then head to our regional tournament on February 17, so hopefully we are hitting our stride at the right time of the year."

Among the individual winners was Tory Bennett. Bennett, while capturing the 182 pound title, reached an impressive milestone of 200 career wins. He is 53-1 on the year and has a career record of 207-8, which is believed to be a state record for career wins. He is only the second wrestler in the Eastern Panhandle to reach the 200-career win mark.

"He has had an outstanding career, but still has some unfinished business to take care of," Coach Bennett said.

Four other Indians, CJ Capps (113), Kyle Shambaugh (195), Matt Parkinson (220) and CJ Gosey (285) won all nine matches in their respective weight classes and brought home gold.

Capps improved to 33-20 on the year, Shambaugh is now 44-12, Parkinson has an outstanding record of 44-5, while Gosey improved to 21-7.

Billy Wilson (120) finished the two-day event 8-1 and improved his season record to 36-19, while Josh Capps (132) posted a 7-2 record and has a current record to 25-19.

The Indians opened the tournament with a 42-30 win over Philip Barbour, then downed Frankfort 36-24 and Liberty Harrison 33-24, before losing a close match to Lincoln, 42-40. Berkeley Springs beat Clarksburg Notre Dame 42-12, Petersburg 27-12 and Moorefield 42-6, while losing to Grafton 33-27 and to Keyser 42-26, on day two.

Keyser won the team title, while the Indians finished fourth.
Berkeley Springs will end the regular season at the Potomac Valley Conference Championships this Saturday, February 4, in Keyser.