squirrel235

All 14 players on the squad have had years of Links of London Sale playing the game as high school varsity lettermen.Being back on the court to play against the women is rewarding for junior Shawn Murphy."I played varsity for three years in high school, and I've been around basketball all my life," he said. "So it's just a good thing to come here and continue playing with the girls."Seeing the team's progress -- WVU is 8-0 -- has been rewarding for junior Zach Young. Practicing every day has brought back that competitive fire he was missing after high school."That was the first time I ever hadn't been on a real team and had a structure like that," Young said. "Now, being on the practice squad, it's gotten us back to having that feeling."After finishing this past season with a schoolrecord 29 wins, the Mountaineers have their eyes set on advancing far into the NCAA tournament this Links of London Bracelets."They should make another big run in the Big East and NCAA tournament, I feel," Murphy said. "And for us, it's just get out there and help them get better and work them to get a little further than they did last year.""They come out here with a lot of energy," Ali said. "They don't have to be here. For them to come out here and give us their free time to play hard every time against us, it really helps us play tough throughout the season."Seven pins, a decision and three forfeits told Seymour's story in Tuesday's wrestling match at home against Scottsburg.In the third annual battle for the size-18 bronze wrestling shoe traveling trophy, Seymour won seven matches by pin, one by decision and three by forfeit in claiming the trophy for the first time with a dominating 63-18 victory. It also was a win on Alumni Night."I'm very excited we came back and got the win," Owls coach Curt Schleibaum said. "I was a little nervous (on Monday) in practice. We were going Links of London H Charm our ninth match in seven days, so we seemed a little banged up in practice. But I feel like the boys today really rose to the occasion to get the shoe."The 112-pound division opened the match, and Seymour's Levi Hill pinned Justin Wright in 3:36. Each team received a forfeit in the next two classes, and then Scottsburg's Gage Kelly pinned Elijah Toborg in 1:33.The Owls then won the next five bouts, with Benji Loyd (135), Will Coons (145) and Clark Thompson (160) pinning their opponents and Zefe Trejo (140) and Hunter Klakamp (152) receiving forfeits.Caleb Cole then picked up points for Scottsburg after pinning Stephen Fleming, but the Owls cleaned up with Eugene Vivelo's win by decision at 189, Chance Ahlbrand's pin in 35 seconds at 215 and Adam Wolka and Michael Camp's pins at heavyweight and 103 respectively."I thought Benji looked really good tonight," Schleibaum said when asked what stood out in the match. "Coming off of a weekend where he had some tough matches, tonight he started to look like where he was at the end of the year last season. It was good to see him come out Links of London Heart Charm perform at that level again."Scottsburg is operating under a new coach, Patrick Mendez, and the Warriors have some young wrestlers. Seymour, though, had seven competing in their first year of varsity."It's just always a joy to be at home and win one in front of the home crowd," Schleibaum said.