Looking to start the season off well, the wrestling team competed in the Northern Region Classic wrestling meet at Fairfax High School on Saturday, Dec. 12. The team competed well and ended up finishing in fourth place out of 32 teams at the meet.

“We wrestled very well [at the Northern Region Classic],” said head coach Keith Sholders. “We’re working hard but we still need to correct a lot of mistakes.”

Several individuals on the team performed very well at the tournament.
“[Sophomore] Dane [Harlowe] placed first in his weight class and [sophomore] Miguel Escoto did well taking down the second and third seeds to place second overall,” said Sholders.

Seniors Stacey Anderson and Jack Velazquez also did well, placing second and fourth, respectively.

“We did well but there’s always little things we can improve on,” said junior Yari Mizouri.

Sholders agrees saying “confidence and believing in themselves” is an area for the wrestlers to focus on.

On Dec. 5, AHS and five other area teams competed in a series of matches against each other and fought towards a number of early season victories. The Atoms left on the heels of a three-match win streak and an overall result of 3-2.

“We lost our first two duals against Fairfax [High School] and Loudon Valley [High School] but then we came back and beat the rest of the schools,” said senior Ricky Adams.

These remaining three wins were against Mt. Vernon HS, Stonewall Jackson HS and Thomas Jefferson HS.

“We started slow but were able to build momentum and finish strong [at the North Stafford meet],” said Sholders.

The meet also featured some great individual performances from Adams, sophomore Dane Harlowe, and senior Jack Velazquez, who all went 5-0. Senior Stacey Anderson also won all three of his matches.

The next competition for the wrestling team will be on Dec. 19, when the team competes in the Lions Rotational Duals at Tallwood High School. The team hopes to do well in this match and future matches.

“We just need to show up everyday ready to work and keep battling it out,” said Adams. “We’ll be fighting for a district championship in February.”

Sholders shared this goal saying, “we expect to win the [district] championship every year we compete.”

Visit www.annandaleatoms.com for the complete varsity wrestling schedule.