HALLS INVITATIONAL 1-17-15

[THEANIMAL]

THE 42 ANNUAL HALLS INVITATIONAL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT IS SATURDAY (1-17-15). WE HAVE A GREAT LINE-UP OF TEAMS: Abingdon HS(VA), Alcoa HS(TN), Beech HS(TN), Blackman HS(TN), Bradley Central HS(TN), Cane Ridge HS(TN), East Hamilton HS(TN), Halls HS(TN), Maryville HS(TN), McCallie School(TN), Page HS(TN), Pisgah HS(NC), Powell HS(TN), Red Bank HS(TN), Seymour HS(TN), Wm Blount HS(TN) and Wilson Central HS(TN).

 

WE HAVE 9-RETURNING STATE CHAMPS AND 31 RETURNING STATE MEDALIST. THE WRESTLINF STARTS AT 10AM. THE FINALS WITH BE AROUND 6PM AND WE SHOULD BE FINISHED AROUND 9PM.

 

COME BY IF YOU GET A CHANCE,

 

THE ANIMAL

 

 

 

 

[THEANIMAL]

WE HAD OUR SEEDING MEETING LAST NIGHT. THANKS TO COACHES FROM BEECH, BRADLEY, MARYVILLE, SEYMOUR, WM BLOUNT AND WILSON CENTRAL FOR YOUR INPUT AND EXPERTISE. THE SEEDING INFO SHOULD BE RELEASE TO THE PUBLIC BY NOON TODAY (THURSDAY 1-15-15).

 

THIS WILL BE THE TOUGHEST TOURNAMENT THAT WE HAVE HELD AT HALLS HIGH SCHOOL.

 

THE ANIMAL

Edited January 15, 2015 by THEANIMAL

[THEANIMAL]

WE RUNS THIS TOURNAMENT ON trackwrestling.com CHECK IT OUT AT

http://s301.trackwrestling.com/tw/Login.jsp?TIM=1421352425030&twSessionId=mgvtbvfqnphdeyh&tName=HALLS&state&sDate&eDate&lastName&firstName&teamName&sfvString&city&gbId

 

CHECK OUT THIS GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT THE UPCOMING HALLS INVITATIONAL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT (1-17-15) IN THE HALLS SHOPPER.

http://issuu.com/shoppernews/docs/halls_fc_shopper-news_011415?e=2310464%2F10923115

[devilsden]

Always a great tournament Coach V.  Looking forward to it.

 

[THEANIMAL]

HERE IS A GREAT ARTICLE IN TODAYS KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL:

Halls Invitational to have ‘family' feel

John Shearer

9:38 PM, Jan 15, 2015

9:46 PM, Jan 15, 2015

With several traditional high school powers from outside Knoxville competing, Saturday’s Halls Invitational wrestling tournament is expected to be quite competitive and tough.

However, plenty of smiles and friendly handshakes will still be apparent, even before the matches. The reason is that several coaches have connections to Halls and former coach Chris Vandergriff, making the event like an old home week.

Besides Halls coach Shannon Sayne, also bringing teams are fellow Halls alumni Benji Gray of Page, Alex Cate at Seymour and Larry Neely of Powell.

Sayne, Gray and Cate wrestled under Vandergriff, while Neely, who served as the interim head football coach this fall for the Panthers, was a former teammate who coached in Virginia before coming to Powell.

This family tree of coaching has additional branches, as Cate’s brother-in-law and former Carson-Newman teammate Will Campbell is bringing the Abingdon, Va., team he assists.

Sayne said he believes a number of former Halls wrestlers are involved in the sport as coaches because of a variety of factors.

“I think you’ve got a good program at Halls, and a pretty good ambassador in the program in Chris,†said the former two-time state champion. “And you always have guys wanting to come out of wrestling and give back to the sport.â€

For Vandergriff, seeing all the people he worked with involved in high school wrestling is quite rewarding.

“It’s just kind of like a family of people I’ve grown up with or coached, and they are coaching now or got kids,†he said.

While he will spend plenty of time saying hello during the invitational, he also will be as busy as the coaches. This is because he is once again serving as tournament director, even though he recently had hip replacement surgery.

Vandergriff has been involved in competitive wrestling since he was a freshman at Halls. A two-time champion in the heavyweight division under Ed Simmons before graduating in 1977, he went on to wrestle at Tennessee before the program was dropped in 1986 due to Title IX and a restructuring of the athletic department.

By the time he was finishing at UT, the Halls program also was in fear of discontinuation. However, David Wayland, a football coach, had agreed to head it for a period, and asked Vandergriff to help him when he graduated.

For Vandergriff, however, his plans were long term, not temporary.

“My dream was to come back and coach at Halls,†Vandergriff said. “It ended up working out.â€

After serving as Wayland’s assistant for two years, he was coach for 23 years, stepping down as coach after the 2006 season, when his son, John Vandergriff, won a state championship. Chris’ best coaching year was in 1990, when Halls finished second in the state.

For this weekend’s invitational, he has helped assemble a field full of state champions. Traditional powers Bradley Central and Chattanooga McCallie and up-and-coming Wilson Central are among 17 teams bringing nine returning state individual champions.

That includes three defending champions from the various divisions and classifications competing at the 126-pound weight class: Walker Murphy of Alcoa, Knox Fuller of Bradley, and James Westbrooks of McCallie. Defending state champions Karim Shereef of Alcoa and Chad Solomon of Maryville are competing at 160 and 182, respectively.

The wrestling begins at 10 a.m., with the finals expected to start around 5 or 6 p.m.

John Shearer is a freelance contributor.

 

[THEANIMAL]

THE HALLS INV. WAS A HUGE SUCCESS. WE FINISHED WRESTLING AROUND 7:30PM. CONGRATULATION TO THE BRADLEY BEAR AS OUR TEAM CHAMPIONS AND WILSON CENTRAL WAS RUNNER-UP. McCALLIE SCHOOL WAS 3RD PLACE. OUR OUTSTANDING WRESTLER FOR THE TOURNAMENT WAS CLAY STRAWN (MARYVILLE-195) AND THE BEST MATCH WENT TO THE 182 FINAL, CHAD SOLOMON (MARYVILLE) OVER KALEB RIPPY (BEECH) 8-5. RESULTS ARE AT:

http://s201.trackwrestling.com/tw/Login.jsp?TIM=1421497769836&twSessionId=dtcexdbdwjisjhh&tName=HALLS&state&sDate&eDate&lastName&firstName&teamName&sfvString&city&gbId

[CradleKing160]

Best match was actually 8-6 Soloman.

[Esthharm]

What about the freshman/JV/ Girls tourney on the 19th of Jan. MLK Day....are those results going to be posted any where?