Thanks to all that showed Saturday to help with the final stages of the Smithfield Wrestling Room Restoration Project.  Not only have the entire room been cleaned and painted, the doors replaced with new ones that include inspirational quotes, we now have wrestling from wall to wall! All that's left to complete is painting the floors in the weigh-in room and locker room, which will be done within the next week.

Zack's Eagle Scout project has been a huge success and left SHS with one of the nicest wrestling facilities in the area!

We had 4 wrestlers compete at the VAWA Freestyle and Greco-Roman State Championships in Richmond with the Peninsula Wrestling Association (PWA) regional team. 

John Swartz      Schoolboy 128     1st Freestyle, 2nd Greco-Roman
Stan Smeltzer   Schoolboy 136     1st Freestyle, 1st Greco-Roman
Tyler Sharon     Cadet 138           DNP Freestyle, DNP Greco-Roman (Tyler was 1 round away from medaling in both styles)
Carter Page      Cadet 152           3rd Freestyle, 3rd Greco-Roman***

***Carter has submitted his paperwork to continue on with the Virginia National Team to the Cadet/Junior National Championships in Frago, ND in July.

Zach Burkes Eagle Scout project to restore the SHS Wrestling Room is well underway.  The room has been disassembled and the walls are being painted at this time.  Zach and the coaching staff appreciate all the help everyone has contributed so far, with a special thanks to coaches Bryan Roggie and Doug Smith.  The room will remain closed for practices on the mat...we will continue weight lifting from 6-7:30pm until they can complete the wall painting portion of the project.  In the next phase, we will roll 1 mat out for practices to resume while the stairs & upper balcony are hand painted and all the doors are being replaced.  

SHS Alumni Dinner Flyer
Social at 6:30pm, Dinner at 7:00pm

Location: Carrollton Ruritan Clubhouse

Donation: $7

See attached Flyer for Details

Smithfield Wrestling Association (SWA). Local wrestling community members have joined together to create the SWA, which will focus on improving wrestling for the areas middle school and high school wrestlers.

The SWA Board members are:
Presdient - Bob Kennedy
Vice President - George Garlow
Treasure/Secrtary - Kathy Robinson

Among the first items of interest was the promotion the high school's first Alumni Dinner on 17 January and the plans for creating its new off-season RAGE Wrestling Club.

The Smithfield High School wrestling team has its first new head coach since the varsity program was sanctioned under VHSL in the 1997-1998 season. Coach Chris Wiatt, the former head wrestling coach from Menchville for 8 seasons, has replaced Coach Tyler Mosley and is quickly assuming his new role. Wiatt brings with him Simon Cooke, his Assistant Coach at Menchville and now a 9th grade math teacher at Smithfield. Former Head Coach, Tyler Mosley achieved his 100th dual team victory last year, leading the team to a 14th place finish at the State AA tournament, up nearly double from their 32nd finish in 2007.

Coaches Wiatt and Simon lead Menchville to multiple Peninsula District titles and intend to continue that tradition at Smithfield. While Poquoson has quickly risen to the top of the Sectional (District) and Region, according to Wiatt, “we’re not here to compete with Poquoson; we’re here to beat them.” However, he urges that focusing on a Sectional Title is not his goal in any season; it’s winning the big matches at States. “I learned early that focusing on Sectional Titles is short sighted, if your focus is on winning States, Sectional and Regional Titles will follow along. When a team settles for Sectional (District) titles, it leads to let-downs at Regionals and States where the athlete must be really focused to win.”

The coaches are no strangers to the returning varsity standouts. They have competed together with the Virginia Duals Wrestling Club, a highly competitive regional wrestling team that practices on the Peninsula under the non-profit Peninsula Wrestling Association. At the first pre-season Club practice Coach Wiatt began issuing a series of challenges to them to increase the number of wrestlers each pre-season practice. They began with nine and by the third week of September they had reached 30 (not including all the wrestlers playing football.)

When asked about his plans for the team, Coach Wiatt said this season will focus on two major changes. The first is implementing his aggressive, in your face, style of wrestling while at the same blending SYWC Head Coach Dave Bugin’s well known leg riding techniques. “Although I haven’t focused as much on leg riding in the past, I want to maximize the technique and skills the community’s youth program has been mastering.” The second change will be in the competition schedule, “I am a strong believer in strength in schedule. It forces the guys to push themselves harder and prepares them to win at the higher levels.” Although Smithfield has never had a state champion, Coach Wiatt believes Juniors Matt Graham and Marshall Robinson have a good chance of bringing home titles this year.

Coach Wiatt sees Smithfield as a “diamond in the rough.” The school has great athletes and a solid youth wrestling program, which are part of the foundations of any successful high school wrestling program. Coach Wiatt would like to thank the wrestlers, parents, and school administration for the overwhelming support he has received thus far. Together, “I believe we moving in the right direction” and look forward to great things to come.

Chris Kennedy, Matt Graham, Marshall Robinson, and Ryan Milbourn will travel to Greensboro, North Carolina on 1 November with the Virginia Duals Wrestling Club to compete in the Super 32, the #1 high school pre-season tournament in Nation. We wish them the best of luck.