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3rd Season, Column 11: Darn fine duals done and yet to come, Tourney talk, Oh my, VMI, you’ve grown, and small notes on the big boys
SO COOL, SO HOT, SOCON… VMI PREVIEW
The year was 1839. William Otis received his long awaited patent…for the steam shovel. (cousin Elisha was the elevator guy). Former prez. John Quincy Adams beat up (legally, not physically) then-current prez. Martin Van Buren, convincing the Supreme Court to free 53 African Americans in the Amistad case. Some guy named Doubleday invented a way to make drinking beer, eating bad food, and yelling for 3 hours an American pastime. And, in the Great Commonwealth of VA, The Virginia Military Institute was established. Cadets of all branches but Cadets ONLY, please, Army, Navy, or Air Force ROTC is a requirement. The current VMI team has a 99 years running, 27 page wrestling record book to add to this season. For perspective, THE Ohio St. University and Michigan are tracking at 100 and 98 years this campaign. The team numbers for VMI…33 strong and only 4 seniors, and theres NO doubt who’s the Big ‘Roo in this troop/mob/court(1). That’s RS Senior Neal Richards, 174LBs of homegrown Virginia nasty. He’s been profiled before in this column, along with his team (SECOND SEASON, COLUMN 18, 1/23/19) and he enters his senior season 74-25, with 22 bonus point wins out of 28 W’s last year. Combined career won-loss records for the rest of VMIs seniors: 60-122. The class make-up for the Keydets is definitely skewed to youth. 2 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, and 24 Freshmen. The Great Commonwealth leads the way with 19 Virginians on the roster. 8 states in total are represented, but other than VA, only Pennsylvania has more than 2 competitors on the team. That empty pouch in the middle of the wrestling roster is probably due in no small part to the March 2018 arrival of Head Coach Jim Gibson. An ’07 Edinboro grad with years of PA coaching toughness at Clarion and Bucknell, Gibson brought big expectations to the small military college. VMI picked up 3 conference wins last year. With such a young squad numerical improvement will be hard to come by. So far this seasons been highlighted by the aforementioned Richards 5th place win at the Southeast Open. Rest of the story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2019/11/11/3rd-season-column-11-darn-fine-duals-done-and-yet-to-come-tourney-talk-oh-my-vmi-youve-grown-and-small-notes-on-the-big-boys/?mc_cid=8eac02cb54&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

November 18, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized