REGION 1D WRESTLING: Rural Retreat ends Grundy's run of regional titles, spoils final home match for Golden Wave (copy)
Rural Retreat coaches coach during Justin Walker's match in the Region 1D finals.
Rural Retreat's Gradyn Gibson pins Eastside's Braylan Rose for first place in the 132 Region 1D finals.
Rural Retreat's Gradyn Gibson and Eastside's Braylan Rose wrestled for first place in the 132 Region 1D finals.
Rural Retreat's Justin Walker defeated Holston's Maddox Buchanan in the 138 Region 1D finals at Grundy High School.
Rural Retreat's William Rose defeated Chilhowie's Dylan Martin in the 144 Region 1D Finals on Friday night.
Rural Retreat's Chaz Penwright defeated Grundy's Aidan Whited in the 157 Region 1D Finals on Friday night.
Rural Retreat's Caleb Gibson and Eastside's Gage Stephens wrestled in the 126 Region 1D finals at Grundy High School.
Rural Retreat's William Rose defeated Chilhowie's Dylan Martin in the 144 Region 1D Finals on Friday night.
GRUNDY, Va. – On what was a historic night for Grundy High School’s incomparable wrestling powerhouse, it was the Rural Retreat Indians who experienced a watershed moment.
On the strength of five individual champions and 13 state tournament qualifiers, Rural Retreat won Friday’s Region 1D tourney and denied Grundy a 15th straight regional title.
It was going to be an emotional night regardless of the outcome for the Grundy Golden Wave – owners of a VHSL-record 28 state team championships – as they competed in the final official wrestling event in their home gym.
That’s because Grundy is combining with Hurley, Twin Valley and Council to form Southern Gap High School, which opens in the fall and will compete under the moniker the Eagles as a member of the Class 2 Southwest District.
There was no first-place farewell to a venue the Golden Wave have called home and a place where they've racked up so many memorable victories.
Instead, they had to settle for silver.
Rural Retreat played the role of spoiler as the Indians amassed a team score of 233, which was 17 ½ points better than the host school.
The two teams – along with Riverheads – figure to engage in another tight battle for the ultimate prize during the VHSL Class 1 state tournament on Feb. 20-21 at the Salem Civic Center.
“We battled hard,” said Rural Retreat coach Cade Rouse. “This is a good place to wrestle and it’s fun to come down here. Our guys did a good job of handling the pressure. At the end of the day, this isn’t the one we want. I’m glad we won, but we’ve got more work to do.”
The experienced Indians have put in some serious work all season and did not lose any of their dual matches this winter.
Caleb Gibson (126-pound weight class), Gradyn Gibson (132), Justin Walker (138), William Rose (144) and Chaz Penwright (157) were the winners for Rural Retreat on Friday.
Those middle weight classes are anything but middling for the Indians.
Many of the best matches for the team’s top grapplers occur each day in practice.
“It gets pretty intense,” Walker said. “Just good guys against good guys.”
Walker was certainly good in the regional tournament as he won both of his matches via pinfall.
He dispatched Patrick Henry’s Jaxton Harner in 1:19 in the semifinals and stuck the shoulders of Holston’s Maddox Buchanan to the mat in 3:16 in the finals.
Walker had beaten Buchanan 12-4 by major decision in the semifinals of the Hogoheegee District tournament on Monday.
“I just came out to score as many points as I could,” Walker said. “I had a pretty close match with him in the district tournament and wanted to turn that around.”
Walker recently made the decision to continue his wrestling career at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
“He’s completely bought in,” Rouse said. “He’s an awesome kid who has worked his tail off. He comes in every day and gets after it.”
Penwright and Caleb Gibson remained unbeaten for Rural Retreat as Penwright pinned Grundy’s Ayden Whited in 3:12 in the finals and Gibson put away Eastside’s Gage Stephens with 24 seconds remaining in his title match.
Gibson is aiming for his fourth state title next week and he has an impressive understudy in his younger brother, Gradyn, a sophomore.
Gradyn Gibson pinned Eastside’s Braylan Rose in 2:51 in his title match and admits that he and Caleb push each other in a way only brothers can.
“We make each other work hard,” Gradyn Gibson said. “The biggest thing I’ve learned from my brother is to always keep your mind on the match.”
They weren’t the only siblings to strike gold on Friday as Honaker’s Carter Dye (113) and Hunter Dye (120) took back-to-back wins in the finals
Carter Dye pinned Rural Retreat’s Peyton Newberry in 66 seconds, and Hunter Dye followed with a 14-2 major decision over Jacob Smeltzer of Grundy.
Hunter Dye became Honaker’s first state champion in program history last season.
His little brother might become the second individual to achieve that feat as he’s just a ninth grader and is a technician.
“It’s good because he pushes me in practice,” Carter Dye said. “Me and him wrestle a lot and it gets competitive. In a way we are similar wrestlers, he just has a different build than me."
The Dye brothers from Honaker and Castlewood’s Jake Bush (175) were the only guys not wearing a Rural Retreat or Grundy singlet to stand atop the podium.
Castlewood finished third in the team standings.
“It’s always good to see somebody from Castlewood or any other school win really,” Bush said. “Rural Retreat and Grundy always dominate pretty good.”
Bush was the 165-pound runner-up in the regional tournament in 2025 and placed second at 150 pounds in 2024.
The senior secured his long-awaited Region 1D crown by taking a 9-1 major decision over Eastside’s Ian Fuller in his title bout.
“I’ve really been chasing that first-place spot,” Bush said. “I’ve been doing some of my best wrestling this season. I hope I can carry the momentum on to state.”
While Grundy didn’t win the team title as usual, the Golden Wave did have the most individual champions with six.
Junior 106-pounder Colton Clevinger (106) of the Wave pinned Holston’s Dalton Arden in 4:39.
“He starts it off for us,” said Grundy coach Travis Fiser. “Colton has been working his butt off the last couple of years and has put himself in position to do well next week.”
Clevinger finished as state runner-up last season in the smallest weight class. He hopes to write a different ending in Salem this time around.
“I feel pretty good about next week,” Clevinger said. “I’m ready to go and win it this year.”
Heavyweight Luke “Quake” Shelton became the last Golden Wave wrestler to win an official match in Grundy’s gym as he needed all of 17 seconds to pin Rural Retreat’s Dominic Lees in the finals.
“I’ve always wrestled the last match, but it’s a little special right now,” Shelton said. “The last time in this great atmosphere.”
Shelton had advanced with a nine-second pin of Holston’s Riddick Lewis in the semifinals. Shelton is a two-time state champion.
“I think I’ve improved on the mental aspect and matured a lot,” Shelton said. “I want to be known as a guy that wrestles six minutes hard. I want to win tough matches. I don’t want to be the guy who just pins everybody in 30 seconds.”
He didn’t need that long on Friday as he continued his stellar senior season. He battled injuries a season ago but is healthy and hammering opponents.
“He’s beat some really good heavyweights all over,” Fiser said. “I’m really proud of him.”
In between Clevinger and Shelton’s championship victories, Reid Stiltner (150), Andrew Scarberry (165), Talen Looney (190) and Brody Ford (215) earned first-place medals for Grundy.
Fifty seconds was all it took for Looney to pin Aaron Arnold, Thomas Walker’s first-ever regional wrestling finalist.
Grundy will send 10 wrestlers to Salem as it aims for an 11th straight state team championship and get some revenge on Rural Retreat.
“Rural Retreat’s tough and wrestled a good tournament and congratulations to them,” Fiser said. “I thought our guys wrestled tough too and we had some good wins. I am proud of our guys and we’ve got a couple of things to work on.”
The Indians certainly aren’t satisfied.
“I’m feeling pretty confident and I think this team is confident,” Walker said. “We just have to keep training this week.”
There is one week remaining in Grundy’s dynasty.
Rural Retreat will once again try to spoil the occasion.
“We’re still chasing the main goal,” Gradyn Gibson said. “That’s the state title.”
Highlights from the final VHSL wrestling tourney at Grundy High School. Rural Retreat edged the Golden Wave for the team title at the Region 1…
Region 1D Tournament
Friday
At Grundy High School
Team Scores
Rural Retreat 233, Grundy 215.5, Castlewood 140, Holston 132.5, Eastside 74.5, Chilhowie 56.5, J.I. Burton 56, Honaker 51, Patrick Henry 45, Northwood 37, Thomas Walker 30
Championship Finals
106 – Colton Clevinger (G) pinned Dalton Arden (Holston), 4:39; 113 – Carter Dye (Honaker) pinned Peyton Newberry (RR), 1:06; 120 – Hunter Dye (Honaker) maj. dec. Jacob Smeltzer (G), 14-2; 126 – Caleb Gibson (RR) pinned Gage Stephens (E), 5:36; 132 – Gradyn Gibson (RR) pinned Braylan Rose (E), 2:51; 138 – Justin Walker (RR) pinned Maddox Buchanan (Holston), 3:16; 144 – William Rose (RR) dec. Dylan Martin (Chilhowie), 4-2; 150 – Reid Stiltner (G) pinned Dominic Haynes (Northwood), 1:06; 157 – Chaz Penwright (RR) pinned Ayden Whited (G), 3:12; 165 – Andrew Scarberry (G) dec. Hunter Pennington (RR), 7-2; 175 – Jake Bush (Castlewood) maj. dec. Ian Fuller (E), 9-1; 190 – Talen Looney (G) pinned Aaron Arnold (TW), 0:50; 215 – Brody Ford (G) pinned William Shepherd (JIB), 2:00; 285 – Luke “Quake” Shelton (G) pinned Dominic Lees (RR), 0:17.
Third-Place Matches
106 – Astan Badziev (RR) tech. fall Colby Singleton (TW), 21-3 (4:42); 113 – Brayden Stone (Castlewood) def. Eli Norris (Holston), forfeit; 120 – Gabe Crewey (RR) pinned Isaac Cooper (Castlewood), 2:14; 126 – Anthony Green (JIB) pinned Hank Glovier (Castlewood), 0:51; 132 – Bishop Ratliff (PH) maj. dec. Malikye Frye (Northwood), 9-0; 138 – Jaxton Harner (PH) dec. Jacob Fields (G), 6-0; 144 – Lucas Vance (G) dec. Joel Bush (Castlewood), 1-0; 150 – Isaac Widener (Holston) pinned Sarmont Badziev (RR), 3:57; 157 – Jacob Farmer (Castlewood) dec. Levi Parks (Holston), 6-0; 165 – Kendon Keith (Holston) maj. dec. Isaac Latham (Castlewood), 16-3; 175 – Tyler Gonzalez (Chilhowie) dec. Ian Bear (RR), 4-2; 190 – Colton Hamm (Chilhowie) pinned Creed Maness (Holston), 1:32; 215 – Jameson Tibbs (RR) tech. fall Grayson Gomez (Chilhowie), 15-0 (2:46); 285 – Brunner Houchins (Castlewood) pinned Richard Darnell (PH), 0:53.
