With the National District wrestling tournament winding down, Dusty Floyd’s pin of Washington-Lee’s Nico Burns brought added excitement. The Mount Vernon junior captured the 171-pound district championship, but he also scored six points for the Majors, who were battling Edison for the team title.
"It feels great right now because it was big for the team," Floyd said. "We’re real close to Edison right now. I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but that really helps the team. We needed that pin so that could give us a spark in these next matches."
In the end, Mount Vernon finished second, falling 10 points shy of Edison, which has won four of the last five district tournaments. Senior 152-pounder Trey McClure won an individual title for the Majors, who also had three grapplers finish runner-up.
McClure defeated Brennen Reeder of Hayfield by decision, 7-3.
"My goal was to basically stay on him the whole time," McClure said, "and try my best not to let him get any points."
Floyd and McClure said they were helped by their experience at the tournament two years ago, when each captured a district championship.
"It helped me know what to expect," McClure said, "and know exactly what I’ve got to do out there to win."
Eriq Dahlum (103 pounds), Francisco Cardona (189) and Nathan Haro (heavyweight) finished runner-up for Mount Vernon.
While five Majors reached the championship match of their respective weight classes, Mount Vernon head coach Anthony McDuffie said the district title came down to the Majors losing early matches in the consolation rounds, an opinion shared by Edison head coach Scott Racik.
"Everything had to go perfectly in order for us to win this because Mount Vernon is a very good team — well coached, tough as nails," Racik said. "I knew they were going to place 10 or 11 guys. I knew we were going to place fewer than that, so we had to hit everything right. … Most of the day, I thought this was Mount Vernon’s title. Just the way the numbers were going, it just looked like Mount Vernon was going to take it. In the third- and fourth-place matches, they lost a couple that I thought maybe they should have won and that made the difference."
The Northern Region tournament begins on Feb. 10 at Fairfax High School.