Vanderplas Leads Seven Fairfax Wrestlers into Regional Meet

Joe Vanderplas, the University of Tennessee-bound pitcher for the Fairfax baseball team, pitched the equivalent of a complete-game shutout over the weekend in the Liberty District wrestling meet at McLean High School.

Wrestling at 215 pounds, Vanderplas won his first match with a pin in 31 seconds, his second with a pin late in the second period and won the district title with a technical fall over Langley’s Tate Dulany at the end of the third period.

“It’s one-on-one just like wrestling. It’s the pitcher against the batter,” Vanderplas said when asked how his baseball experience helps with wrestling.

While he originally got into wrestling so he could stay in shape for the baseball season as a seventh-grader, Vanderplas has graduated to being the top-ranked competitor in his weight class in the Northern Region. He’ll have a chance to live up to his ranking later this week when the Rebels host the regional tournament.

“When the season started, I set goals to be regional champion, so this is just my first step in reaching that goal,” Vanderplas said about his district title.

The last time he wrestled on the big stage in the Fairfax gym, in the finals of the NoVa Classic back in December, he lost to his challenger from North Stafford, a team competing out of the region. He hopes to have a chance to even the score with Justin Tribble if they match-up in the state tournament later this month. But before then, he’ll have to get past Ali Musa of Annandale and Jacob DeLeon of Westfield.

While Vanderplas was the only Rebels athlete to earn an individual title, the team finished fourth out of eight in the district. Nick Lowstuter (103) and Kevin Karsner (Heavyweight) were the other Fairfax wrestlers to make the district finals.

“At the beginning of the season, we set goals and predictions and we figured this is the way it would be,” said coach Craig Franklin. “The three we have in the finals wrestled true to their seeds.”

Franklin said the most important thing about the district meet this year was that it happened in the first place. Due to the snowstorms of 2010, the championship was settled on paper and top-seeded wrestlers were awarded titles by default.

“Last year was a huge disappointment to not be able to wrestle the district tournament,” Franklin said. “They should be focused and ready to go (to regionals).”

Along with those already mentioned, Donald Knowlan (112), Kevin Richards (125), Kyle Davis (140) and Alexis Lazo earned trips to regionals by finishing fourth or higher in the district meet.