Weekend at the Virginia Duals

I was pleased to have been asked again to cover the Virginia Duals wrestling extravaganza for the DAILY PRESS. The Duals are a must see for the grappling enthusiast. This year, 76 college, high school and middle school teams took part. As mentioned ad nauseum in my articles, the fun of watching the Duals is that most of the time, 10 matches are taking place at once, making the sole announcer the most focused person in Hampton Coliseum. The focal point can change at any second, and for any reason. One minute, a grappler from Kent State can be spinning out of a hold on Mat 3, and then the next a 12-year old is throwing down an opponent for a pin on Mat 10.

Hampton Coliseum, site of the annual
Virginia Duals

The other highlight, and certainly not one that ever got mentioned in an article, is the food. It's a well known secret that the volunteers do a tremendous job at the Duals. But the cooks are the stars of the show. The fare is usually seafood, and to quote my younger runners, it's BANGIN' !! Saturday dinner in the Hospitality Room of Hampton Coliseum consisted of homemade clam chowder, scallops, clams, fried oysters, flounder stuffed with crab imperial, fries, salad. And I missed about half a dozen trays. So help me, i gained five pounds at the Duals, Very ironic in an arena where thousands of wrestlers were working hard to drop pounds for weigh-in. I almost felt guilty. Almost.

Here are some of the highlights from my two days of wrestling coverage, as posted on HRVarsity.com and printed in the Saturday, Sunday and Monday sports pages of the DAILY PRESS.

Day 1 results - Four teams win first-round matches

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-virginia-duals-feature-0112-20130111,0,5248548.story

Day 2 results - Hampton HS places fourth in Black and Blue Division

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/highschool/dp-spt-virginia-duals-feature-0113-20130112,0,426368.story

Conclusion - VA Tech defeats U. VA for National College Division title

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-virginia-duals-notebook-0113-20130112,0,2458112.story