The Roanoke Catholic wrestling team started out the season with a tie for first place at the Carroll County Invitational season opener that had ten public schools participating. With 3 starters missing from the line up the rest of the team stepped up for the first major tournament of the season.
‘Nghia Pham (106) Sean Deer (160) and Nic Nester (195) took home Gold. Andrew Nolen finished 2nd in the Heavy Weight Division with Armando Herrera placing 3rd at 120. Alex Sakalas (132), Jack Pilgreen (145) and Tan Tran (152) following up with 4th place finishes.
The team then went on to compete in 5 dual matches against single “A” schools Chilhowie, Tazewell, Lee High, Eastside and George Wythe at the Chilhowie tournament and won every match to take first place for the second weekend in a row. ‘Nghia Pham, Armando Herrera, and Andrew Nolen all went undefeated for the day. The final against George Wythe was a classic with the outcome of the tournament coming down to the final heavy weight match. With the score tied 39 to 39 Andrew Nolen stepped out on the mat and pinned his opponent to give Catholic the match by a score of 45 to 39 and the tournament championship.
