2 sisters, 2 wrestling titles

By Dan Cooley

Correspondent

CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER

Two years ago, Sarah Lambert watched her older sister Marina become the first female to win an individual title in Chesapeake middle school wrestling. Last Saturday, Sarah became the second.

The Indian River Middle School seventh-grader won the 115-pound class by upsetting Hickory's Sam Bright, the top seed, in the finals. Sarah seemed overwhelmed by her win in the male-dominated sport.

Sarah had lost to Bright earlier in the season by pin. Then, just last week in a tournament, she gained newfound confidence and defeated Bright in overtime.

Last Saturday, in their third match-up of the year, Sarah dominated. She quickly jumped out on top, using a submarine roll on the takedown for back points and a 5-0 lead. She increased the lead to 11-1, before pinning Bright in the second period, in 2:59 to win the title. That led to a wild celebration from Sarah's teammates and family, including a warm embrace from Marina.

"I already knew I could beat him, so I thought I would just come out and go my hardest and see what happens," Sarah said. "This was awesome."

In other matches

Just as Sarah dominated from start to finish, so did Great Bridge Middle. The Wildcats captured the team title by outscoring second-place Hickory, 252.50 to 180.50. The Wildcats placed nine grapplers in the finals, with seven winning titles. The Hawks put six in the finals and won two championships.

"This is the most committed group I've had in my three years here as assistant and head coach," said Wildcats coach P.J. Neumann. "They've been working and training hard and are very acceptable to learning."

Three Wildcats eighth-graders - Cody Stageberg (80), Case Supchak (98) and Ryan Fairbee (103) - repeated as champs. Fairbee won all his matches by pin. Supchak attributed his two titles to others' support.

"I'm real happy to win two and proud to have a good coach and good mom and dad," Supchak said.

Other Wildcat champions were Travis Stewart (122), Justo Chalaire (136), Gregg Cottrell (157) and Jordan Jones (220). Second-seeded Chalaire upset Seth Taylor of Oscar Smith, 7-3. Chalaire had lost to Taylor, last year's champion, by pin earlier in the season.

"This win feels great," Chalaire said. "I was confident, and I think I wanted it more."

Hickory's Logan Simmons (92) and Zach Niece (143) won titles, as did Greenbrier's Paul Wortring (129) and Aaron Rowe (150), Oscar Smith's Aaron Bright (74) and Taylor Zollar (108), Hugo Owens' Camden Anderson (86) and Western Branch's Dajuan Merritt (175).

Bright was urged by Tigers coach Raymond Davis to try out, after failing to make the basketball team. He upset Great Bridge's No. 1 seed Evan Bowen, 13-6, avenging a close, early season defeat. Leading just 8-6, Bright scored a takedown and back points in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.

"My strategy was to play it smart and not use up all my energy like I did the first time," Bright said. "Then at the end, my thought was not to let him take me down. This win feels good."

Dan Cooley, 222-5200