2 State Qualifiers; 1 Medal

Martin, Brown Qualify to State Tournament

Both Make Top 12; Martin Medals 7th

  In a season that has been marked by numerous highs and lows, two Spartans were able to reach the ultimate stage - the Virginia AAA State Tournament held at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, VA.  For Timmy Brown, a Sophomore at 106, it was his first trip to the big show and an incredible improvement over a season ago.

  "Last year, poor Timmy was 0-13 and 20 lbs under weight," said Totaro of his tough lightweight.  "This year, the only two words that can describe him are 'tough' and 'determined' - plain and simple.

  Those two words could not describe the 98 lb terror better as he has wrestled much of the season fighting to hit triple digits on the scale.  But, on the mat, speed and toughness rule, and Brown used just that to defeat his Salem opponent to win his first State match of his career; a major step for a young wrestler.  Timmy would end the first day 1-2, placing in the Top 12.

  The story for Tarkan Martin was much different as this was his 3rd straight trip to the State Tournament, but the first two trips had not ended the way he had hoped.

  "Yeah, getting sick the week of the State tournament definitely sucked last year," said Martin of his 1-2 performance at Robinson in 2012.  "But this year, I finally reached my goal and beat guys I never have before along the way."

  Martin, who was injured for over a month earlier in the year, almost saw his chances at a 3rd State Tournament ended when Willie Inserra of North Stafford wrenched his shoulder and incapacitated Tarkan for much of December and early January.  Martin would fight back from injury, but struggled to find his 'true form' until early February - just in time for the postseason.

  "He just didn't look like Tarkan; making mistakes, little things just looked sloppy," said Josh Costa, assistant coach for Broad Run.  "He fixed it all though, and even added a few things and peaked exactly when you want to see a kid peak."

  The coaches thought that peak was at the Regional tournament when Martin notched his 100th win and a 3rd place finish to qualify for the State Tournament.  Little did they know that Tarkan, who would have to see Brock Jacobsen of Edison, would be able to upset Jacobsen after losing by major decision to him earlier in the year.  With the win came what Tarkan had been working towards for 4 years; a State Medal.

  After losing his next match, Martin would need to settle for 7th or 8th place, but would face another former opponent who had defeated him earlier in the season - Willie Inserra.  

  In a story that seems like something out of an ESPN360, Martin was more ready for Inserra than ever before.  Knowing Inserra would look to throw and run a deadly leg series, the plan was to beat him on his feet, and the plan was followed perfectly.

  Martin started by scoring the first takedown and releasing Inserra, and followed it up with 2 more takedowns to take a 6-2 lead.  Following injury time from Inserra, Tarkan would continue the neutral attack, being taken down only once late in the third period, while scoring a total of 6 takedowns in the match and avenging a loss that almost never let him get to this point.

  "It is all just surreal.  I can't believe it's all over." Tarkan expressed, as he looked back on four years with the program.  But with the 7th place medal, Martin adds an impressive group of All-State wrestlers in the Broad Run Program. 

  Check out the next post to see the entire list of All-State Wrestlers from Broad Run Wrestling.

Spartans Put 3 Into Cedar Run Finals; Earn a Champ

11 Qualifiers Head to Regionals Next Weekend

  While the tournament scoring did not show the success of the Spartans, the number of people going on to Regionals did.  Broad Run placed 5th overall in the Cedar Run, an extremely disappointing finish, but they did qualify 11 of 14 to Region competition, and had three finalists.

  Placing 4th at Districts, and earning a bid to the next round, were Seniors Diego Loya (195) and Clayton Shepherd (160), as well as Junior Ben Paul (132) and Sophomore Tyler Corbo (113).  Paul would later be pulled from the Region Tournament due to concussion symptoms suffered from a head trauma incurred in his lat match of the District.

  Placing 3rd for the Spartans were Juniors Zach Fossett (152) and Connor Bryant (182), along with Sophomore Ewen Riordan (285) and Senior Phillip James (220).

  In the finals, Timmy Brown (106), Tarkan Martin (138) and Logan Shain (170) would all be automatically qualified for the Region and have a chance to be added to the extensive list of Spartan District Champions.  Timmy Brown would fall short against Matt Asper of battlefield but fought hard and showed huge improvement over his 0-13 record from a year ago.  Logan Shain would also place 2nd with a loss to Alex Thomas of Battlefield by fall.  Broad Run would earn 1 District Champion as Tarkan Martin defeated Robertson of Patriot to earn the top spot at 138.

State Tournament Will Have 2 Spartan Wrestlers Entered

Martin, Brown Medal at Regionals to Qualify

  Senior Tarkan Martin and Sophomore Timmy Brown placed 3rd and 4th respectively in their classes to earn a bid to the AAA State Tournament in Chesapeake, VA on February 15-16.  Tarkan placed 3rd after falling to Casey Bowers of Hylton in the semifinals, but came back to win back to back matches to earn bronze.  

  Timmy Brown lost in the quarters to eventual Region Champ Tommy Aloi of Forest Park, but would win 3 consecutive matches to earn a spot in the consolation finals before falling to Nail of Colonial Forge.  Congratulations to both and good luck next week as they look to earn All-State placement by earning 8th or higher in the tournament!

Timmy Brown places 4th at Regionals             Tarkan Martin places 3rd at Regionals

Spartans fall to Battlefield; Defeat Patriot

A 2nd place Regular Season Finish for Broad Run

  In the final matches of the season, Broad Run fought, but fell just short, of a regular season duals championship.  Up first on the night, the Spartans faced the defending Cedar Run champions Battlefield, and the winner would take home the trophy for the regular season.  Starting at 138, Broad Run was able to pick up a major decision from Sophomore Chris Lamboy, but gave one right back to Junior Justus Weaver of the Bobcats.  From there Broad Run would win at 152, but lost at 160 and 170.  The 182 rematch between Andrew Thomas of Battlefield and Junior Connor Bryant was highly anticipated by the coaches of both teams and it would be Bryant who came up with the huge 6-2 decision.

  Diego Loya would add 6 more to the team score with a pin at 195, and disaster would strike the next two matches as both Senior Phillip James of BR and Lee Ferrill at HWT for the Bobcats were both injury defaulted out of their matches for a 6-6 swing in points.  106 and 113 were tough fought matches, but the opponents were too much for the Spartans, and in the end, Broad Run would fall 41-25 moving to 3-1 on the season in District and needing a win to hold on to 2nd place.

  With the loss of their 220 wrestler against Patriot, the Spartans were forced to forfeit at least one weight class.  Thanks to some huge wins from Timmy Brown and Tyler Corbo at 106 and 113, as well as pins from Zach Fossett, Diego Loya and Ewen Riordan, the Spartans were able to pull out a 38-32 victory over the Pioneers and solidified a 2nd place finish in the Cedar Run.

  Up next for the Spartans will be the District Tournament where the Spartans will look to qualify as many as possible to the Region and hopefully crown a few District Champions!

Snow Stifles Spartans Final Events of Regular Season

Wrestlers Prepare for Final District Matches

  With snow canceling the weekend's events, the Spartans will now wrestle their last two Cedar Run District events on Wednesday January 30th.  Battlefield will host the last District tri-meet as Broad Run hopes to knock off Battlefield and Patriot to claim the Cedar Run Regular Duals Championship.