West Potomac senior William Rupp, top, defeated Langley’s Tate Dulany via 14-6 major decision to capture the 220-pound title at the Northern Region wrestling meet on Feb. 9 at Hayfield Secondary School. Photo by Craig Sterbutzel.
Alexandria — As West Potomac senior William Rupp has maintained an undefeated record this season, the Wolverine grappler enters each match battling nerves.
Heading into the 220-pound final at the Northern Region wrestling meet, Rupp’s butterflies were so bad he thought he was going to be sick.
"Every single match I go out real nervous," Rupp would later say. "For that one, I thought I was going to throw up before the match, I was so scared."
When the match was over, Rupp again rendered his post-competition nerves unnecessary.
Rupp defeated Langley’s Tate Dulany via 14-6 major decision to capture the 220-pound region championship on Feb. 9 at Hayfield Secondary School. Rupp improved his season record to 42-0. Prior to this season, his best finish was placing second at the Patriot District meet as a junior. Rupp attributed his improvement to lifting weights and wrestling with grapplers from Hayfield and Mount Vernon.
"I feel like, especially coming into this season, no one really knew who I was," Rupp said, "and I really had to throw myself out there …"
Rupp’s finish helped West Potomac place seventh as a team. The Wolverines finished with 74 points, third-best among Patriot District teams. Robinson won the championship with a score of 232, followed by Westfield (224), Mount Vernon (155.5), Lake Braddock (146), Centreville (86) and Annandale (77).
West Potomac’s Zachary Prinzbach placed third in the 195-pound division and John Perez placed sixth in the 126-pound bracket.
The VHSL state wrestling championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16 at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake.