In just four years since Briar Woods High School has been opened, the Falcons’ wrestling team has emerged into one of the better teams in the eight-team Dulles District.
Last year, the Briar Woods team finished third overall in the district. Coach Ryan Rogers’ team should be right in the mix again this winter.
Potomac Falls, the defending district champion, is expected to be the premier team again this winter, while Heritage, Freedom and Briar Woods are all expected to be among the top echelon of teams in the district.
The Falcons have already had some highlight moments early on this season. On Dec. 13, senior Mike Fleming (171-weight class) won his 100th career varsity match at the Park View Invitational.
Fleming has had an outstanding high-school wrestling career. He won 41 matches as a sophomore and finished fifth in the Region II championships that season. Last year, he won 36 matches, finished second in the district at 152-weight class and was a state qualifier.
"He works hard and is always working out with the coaches," Rogers said of Fleming’s challenging practices. "He’s a very strong athlete. He really spent a lot of time working hard in the off-season."
Fleming, who defeated a Bishop O’Connell wrestler by decision for his 100th win, is a team co-captain along with fellow senior TJ Julia (119-weigh class), who has won district titles the past two years at the 103 division as a sophomore and 112 as a junior. At regionals last year, Julia placed sixth overall.
Other key members on this year’s team include seniors Thomas Hulcher (130), a second-place district finisher at 130 last year and a state qualifier, and Mike Girolami (215), who went 28-8 last year before falling ill and not being able to compete in the postseason.
<b>BRIAR WOODS</b> finished an impressive second overall at the recent Henrico Duals, a 16-team event that took place at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond Dec. 5-6. The Falcons were the lone state double-A sized school at the meet. All 15 of the other teams represented were from larger state triple-A schools.
"We just wrestled and came together as a team," Rogers said of the Falcons’ success at the Henrico Duals. "We had some really key wins."
On the first night of action on Friday, Briar Woods lost to state wrestling power Granby High of Norfolk by a lopsided 51-21 score. But the Falcons hardly got discouraged by the setback, working their way through the rest of the tournament and ultimately meeting the same Granby team again in the finals on Saturday. There, Briar Woods gave the Comets a much better match in a 40-34 loss.
To reach the finals, Briar Woods, in Saturday’s action, defeated Mills Godwin (Richmond), 40-33, and tied Western Branch (Chesapeake), 36-36, in a semifinals match. The Falcons won a tie-breaker over Western Branch to move on to the finals.
"Everything just kind of fell together that day," Rogers said.
The coach loves the make up of his team, which includes eight seniors.
"They’re pretty special kids," he said. "They have worked hard in the off-season."
Briar Woods was scheduled to compete at the 16-team Border Wars tournament Dec. 19-20 for the second straight year. The event was being hosted by Skyline High School (Front Royal).
On Jan. 2-3, Briar Woods will travel cross-town to take part in the local 10-team Broad Run Invitational in Ashburn.