Nansemond River High School brought 13 wrestlers to compete in the Virginia Challenge Wrestling Freshman, Sophomore, Junior State Championships this past weekend at Norview High School.

Out of approximately 90 teams represented at the event, the Warriors claimed the state championship in the junior classification and finished third overall.

Junior heavyweight wrestler Caleb Repko helped power his class to the win by adding another individual championship to his name, continuing a stellar year that has included a Southeastern District championship, a Virginia High School League Eastern Region championship and fifth place finish at the VHSL state tournament in February.

Nansemond River head coach Tripp Seed was pleased with his team’s performance, particularly because of the number of representatives it had. He was also already looking to next season, because the opposition on Saturday came from a variety of levels aside from the Warriors’ Group AAA designation, which they will soon be leaving.

“It gave us an idea of where we’ll be at next year when they realign,” he said. “We should be doing pretty well next year.”

Saquan Branch, Donya Craig and Leon Lynch finished second, Malcolm Dawson, James Boone and Nick Garland finished third. Coming in fourth was Kori Lambert, Mike Carlin finished fifth and Matt Carpenter finished sixth.

The Nansemond River wrestling team will continue to practice in preparation for various tournaments coming up, including some national level events in April and May.