A couple of top-five finishes and a notable performance by a freshman highlighted Arlington participation in the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 boys state wrestling tournament.
Fifth-place finishers in Virginia Beach were junior Anthony Morales at 175 pounds for the Wakefield Warriors and senior Zachary Capps at 150 for the Washington-Liberty Generals. Each finished with 4-2 records at the state tourney, with a technical fall and pin among their victories.
The freshman who made his mark was Wakefield’s Parker Chick at 106 with a sixth-place finish. Chick is thought to be the first Wakefield freshman to place in the VHSL state tournament, at least in modern times.
Chick’s victories at the tournament were all regular decisions. He finished the season with a 40-7 overall record and 25 pins.
Prior to the state tourney, Chick placed second in the Liberty District tournament, third in the region and NOVA Classic, went undefeated at the Capitol Duals and placed fifth at the Joe Verciglio Tournament.
Wakefield coach John Leinberger said Chick was a standout wrestler prior to high school, winning multiple county championships at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington. Chick wrestles year round with the Legend Wrestling Club in Vienna.
“He had a real good season for us,” Leinberger told ARLnow. “He works hard and is a tough son of a gun.”
Leinberger believes the 40 wins is a single-season most by a freshman at Wakefield.
Also wrestling in the state meet for Wakefield was senior Abubakr Abdelmutalb at 165 pounds. He finished 1-2, with one of his losses to the state champion Kross Cassidy of Fairfax High School.
Abdelmutalb scored a takedown against Cassidy, who is ranked third in the nation in his weight class.
Placing sixth in the state was sophomore Josue Hernandez at 113 pounds from Washington-Liberty.
Also participating in the meet for W-L were junior Dylan Walsh (126) and seniors Evan Cronin (157), Bilegjargal Miyaragchaa (175), Liam Sloan (190) and Max De La Vega (215).
On Saturday, April 18, Wakefield High School in conjunction with the Arlington Wrestling Club will host the third annual Warriors Classic, a freestyle event that is expected to attract more than 100 participants, boys and girls.
The Arlington Wrestling Club also will be involved with tournaments on Saturdays, April 4 and 11, at Forest Park High School in Prince William County and Marymount University in Arlington.
W-L wrestler places fifth in state: In the Virginia High School League’s Girls State Open wrestling tournament, Washington-Liberty’s Allison Crawford finished fifth at 126 pounds. She was the top placer from an Arlington school.
Crawford finished with a 4-2 record, which included three pins and a major decision.
Yorktown High’s Jana Young finished 2-2 at 165 in the state meet.
Young O’Connell team perseveres through ‘growing pains’: With a lineup that included just one senior and 11 freshmen, the words rebuilding, reloading, young, inexperienced and challenging all were appropriate to describe the Bishop O’Connell Knights wrestling team during the 2025-26 high-school season.
“This was a very young team that was stumbling around for a while, finding its way and figuring out how to do things,” O’Connell coach Thomas Wilson said. “It was a year of growing pains and trying to hold the ship afloat. But we had some wrestlers that learned and accomplished a lot.”
The squad also included seven sophomores and 10 juniors.
The lone senior for O’Connell was Jacob Geisler. He was a captain and one of the team’s most accomplished grapplers, finishing second at 126 pounds in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference tournament.
Geisler earned the team’s Coaches Award for his season’s achievements and leadership. He also received honorable mention all-WCAC honors.
Also for the Knights at the WCAC tourney, junior heavyweight Rowan Klanderman finished fourth, as did junior and first-year wrestler Noah Jarecke at 120 and junior Paxton Hagan at 175.
At the season-ending state tournament. Klanderman placed sixth, with sophomore Ricky Church (113) and junior Anthony Rugo (132) each finishing seventh.
