Christiansburg has had four wrestling coaches in the past 17 years, and Cliff Warden takes over a program rich in history in state championships including 16 straight.
While the chance of being the first coach to lose that streak looms in the stratosphere, Walden brings his own winning ways to the school. He won four state championships at Independence High School in Coal City, West Virginia before coming to the New River Valley.
Seven Independence wrestlers were in the championship round last season including Warden’s son, Nate at 160 pounds who will be a sophomore this season and is expected to join his father in Christiansburg.
Independence boasted the top three wrestlers in three West Virginia AA/A weight classes last year and locked up the championship before most of the team took to the mat in the semi-finals.
The scenario has been similar with Christiansburg dominating the mats on this side of the border for a long, long time.
Warden led the Patriots to four consecutive AA/A state team titles while twice earning WVSSAC Coach of the Year honors and the 2015 NFHS Mideast Section Coach of the Year award. Warden wrestled for Edinboro University with current Virginia Tech wrestling Coach Tony Robie.
Independence and Christiansburg are no strangers to each other as they have seen each other in competition up and down the East Coast including this past week in Charlotte, N.C. and the two will face off on Friday, Dec. 22 in a dual match on the floor of Cassell Coliseum at Virginia Tech.
Five of Christiansburg’s top wrestlers graduated last season, but the Blue Demons return a talented group that has filled spots with even more talent.
Warden said every kid/wrestler on his roster is a key to success this season. “Every day battles within our practice room will continue championships,” he said.
The optimism is high as the team has done well at some major tournaments already this winter. “More than half of our varsity wrestlers should win individual state titles,” Warden said.
Erick Eva signed a letter of intent last month to wrestle at Davidson, while Hunter Bolen has an offer to wrestle at Princeton, so the roster is deep in talent with as many as five state title holders returning this season.
Jeff Carter is in his second year at Auburn High School and continues to build a program that didn’t even exist before he found his way down Route 8. While their dual meet record of 3-14 doesn’t show it, the Eagles have a lot to look forward to.
Three starters are gone including “Mr. World” Brady Linkous, but the team returns six wrestlers (Hayden Clevinger, Dustin Arnold, Andrew Zimmerman, Jordan Smith, Asa Adkins and Jared Perdue) that gained a lot of experience last season.
“Although Auburn is only a second-year team, I expect this year’s team to make a huge jump forward individually and as a team. We have some returners that have learned the sport the past year. We also have a very athletic group of newer wrestlers this year. We have nice numbers for a second-year program, so that helps everyone in the room,” Carter said.
Of course like the other athletic programs at Auburn, this year also means a new district with Rural Retreat being one of the top teams in the state for the past 10 years.
“I expect our seniors to lead the team this year, especially Jacob Redden and Jared Perdue. We also have a very athletic young group. Once they pick up technique and confidence, I think we can have some huge successes,” Carter said.
The scene is similar in Blacksburg where Chris Johnson is also in his second year, but the Bruins did finish with a 7-1 mark in dual matches last season. Johnson is no stranger to the mat as was an assistant for almost 10 years at Christiansburg including state title after state title.
Blacksburg has a lot optimism after only losing two starters from a year ago, but the team will have to move up a classification from 3A to 4A this season.
“This should be a new challenge. I expect our 4 seniors (Ben Smith, Sage Duncan, Daniel Keith, and Christian Vance) to be our leaders. It will be difficult to replace state qualifier and 4-year starter Caspian Driscoll and also Luke Goforth, who decided to play basketball this year,” Johnson said.
The key, according to the coach, will have to be a total team effort.
“We are still young and relatively inexperienced. Ben Smith, Sage Duncan, and Daniel Keith are our leaders. Look for Freshmen Logan Eberhardt and Sam Baker to contribute significantly. Matthew Lucas has missed the last two seasons with injury and we’re looking for a good year from him. Heavyweights Shane Mitcham and Jesse Parson are significantly improved from last year from working with Assistant Coach and former Christiansburg State Runner-up/Virginia Tech Heavyweight- back-up Brandon Taylor. We have to remain healthy as we are not a deep team. That should soon change as we have 44 kids on our middle school team,” Johnson said.
Currently the Bruins do not have anyone wrestling at 106 and 182 pounds, which always causes problems in the final point total.
