Lakeland’s wrestling team opened its season on Saturday with a team championship and two individual titles at the York Classic.

Lakeland head coach John Bostwick, in his third season coaching the Cavaliers, wasn’t sure, but he thinks the tournament title is historic for Lakeland wrestling.

“I think, honestly, it’s Lakeland’s first time winning an invitational tournament of this size. We won a dual meet tournament last year, but we’ve never won an invitational tournament because we’d never had the depth for it and we’ve never had six guys in the finals of a tournament like this,” said Bostwick.

Senior Justin Howell rolled through three straight matches to win the 215-pound class. Howell needed less than two minutes total to score pins in his three matches.

“While it was a good tournament for the team, unfortunately, in (Howell’s) weight class there was really no one to compete with him,” said Bostwick.

Howell went 38-4 overall last season and Bostwick said the first big tests for him will probably be at Lakeland’s Cavalier Invitational on Dec. 22-23.

Junior Lance Smith went 4-0 to win the 145-pound class. Smith won by technical fall and with a pin in his first two matches. In his third match, Smith won a close match against a Mathews competitor who reached the Group A state tournament last season. Smith won in the final with a pin 2:16 into the match.

In addition to taking first place, Smith also won a tournament-wide sportsmanship award.

The Cavaliers came into the meet short-handed with three wrestlers missing the day because of SATs, so with wrestlers in 11 of 14 weight classes, the team victory was more impressive.

“I was thinking we’d be good enough to place, but to win the tournament? No,” said Bostwick. “Having nine guys reach the semifinals and six in the finals, I was sort of like, wow, it surprised me.”

Included in the finalists were freshmen Colin Rice (125) and C.J. Hubbard (140).

“You always tell the guys if they put in the work, the rewards will come in,” said Bostwick about the offseason work his team has done. Most specifically, Bostwick referenced going to Poquoson two nights a week through the offseason.

“That’s seven months and four hours each night,” said Bostwick.

“This is certainly a job well done, but it’s not complete. We still have all our goals for this season. This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Bostwick.

York Classic

Saturday

Team Scores

1. Lakeland 186.5

2. York 179.5

3. Mathews 149.0

4. Menchville 117.0

5. Lake Taylor 113.0

6. Denbigh 99.0

7. Bishop Sullivan 91.0

8. Kecoughtan 87.5

9. Warwick 79.0

10. Huguenot 46.0

11. Armstrong 39.0

12. Peninsula Cath. 7.0

Championship matches

103 Savage (Kec) d. Rouland (Mat), 9-4

112 Burton (Den) d. Swartz (Mat), fall 1:25

119 Ingalls (York) d. Ch. Rice (LHS), 2-1

125 Shaffer (LT) d. Co. Rice (LHS), 13-6

130 Farrants (York) d. Eysaman (BSC), fall 1:06

135 Mayer (York) d. Beale (Mat), 18-6

140 Dynan (York) d. Hubbard (LHS), 11-2

145 Smith (LHS) d. Reeves (BSC), fall 2:16

152 Joseph (Kec) d. Buchanon (Den), inj. default

160 Roberson (Men) d. Sari (LHS), 14-10

171 Sorey (Mat) d. Killam (Den), 9-7

189 Phillips (York) d. Graves (Men), 4-3

215 Howell (LHS) d. Gray (LT), fall 0:32

285 Fozdyck (Mat) d. Smith (LT), fall 3:38

Consolation matches

103 Ward (War) d. Williams (York), fall 1:18

112 Spurio (Men) d. McKie (Arm), fall 0:18

119 Lamb (LT) d. Rcih (War), 12-7

125 Rhea (Den) d. Shekoski (York), 6-5

130 Freeman (LHS) d. Barrett (Hug), 10-4

135 Kelly (BSC) d. Clark (War), fall 1:59

140 Lee (LT) d. Salazar (BSC), fall 1:45

145 Smith (York) d. Jones (Hug), 10-4

152 Sullivan (Men) d. Leveron (Hug), inj. default

160 Tirado (Den) d. Brewer (Arm), fall 5:53

171 Beale (LHS) d. Ellis (Men), inj. default

189 Schultheiss (Mat) d. Cooley (Arm), forfeit

215 Rutherford (York) d. Jennings (Mat), fall 3:45

285 Gardner (LHS) d. Simmons (Men), fall 1:14

Top Lakeland records

Lance Smith 4-0

Justin Howell 3-0

Chase Rice 3-1

Colin Rice 3-1

C.J. Hubbard 2-1

Alex Sari 3-1

Joseph Freeman 3-1

Cory Beale 3-1

Martin Gardner 3-1