Wrestling: Freedom Finishes 12th in AA with Gaetani and Timbers Both 3rd; Loudoun Has 8 Place in States

(Feb. 24, 2011) - Freedom High School, with three medalists including a pair of third place finishes by 130-pounder Sean Gaetani and 285-pounder DaQuante Timbers, came away with a 12th place finish last weekend at the AA state wrestling meet in Salem.

The Eagles, with their highest state tournament finish ever, were just eight points away from 10th.

"It is also the 2nd year in a row where we have had three all state wrestlers, which is quite an accomplishment considering none of those boys began wrestling before their freshmen year of high school," reported Freedom caoch Kent Nagy "All of this has been accomplished through the hard work of our wrestlers, coaches and certainly parents, who have dedicated countless hours in support of their kids. We as a coaching staff are exceptionally proud of all of our young men, who represent themselves so well in our community."


Timbers finished his season with a 49-3 record on the year, and a third place finish at States with his only loss on the weekend, coming in the semifinals. He pinned every other opponent in the tournament, including the Grundy heavyweight in a shocking 34 seconds.

The junior notched his milestone 100th career win in the third place match, a fall over over Eastern View's Tyler Dean. Timber is now 100-9 lifetime in three seasons.

Gaetani battled through some very tough matches on the weekend in order to make his first trip to the medal stand. Gaetani's day one of the two-day tournament was a little rocky, as he squeaked through an opening round opponent before dropping a close semifinal decision to Chancellor wrestler in a hotly contested match.

His fourth win of the season over Broad Run's Neil Hartman guarenteed Gaetani a place on the medal stand. In day two Gaetani shook off the rust of day one and hammered out three straight victories including a revenge match over the Chancellor wrestler for third.

Gaetani's and Timbers' third place finishes were the best ever by an Eagle wrestler.

"Once again this speaks volumes to the character of this young man, given that he was not even a starter on this team until two years ago," reported Nagy. "Sean may never have gotten 100 career victories like a few of the other boys on the team ... but with two district championships, a regional title and a third place finish in the state he leaves our program as the most decorated wrestler in its history!"

Freedom's Michael Hosti shocked a very deep 135-pound field in what was the toughest weight class in the state of Virginia this year, with his sixth Place finish. Hosti bounced back after a 6-3 loss to eventual state runner-up Blake Bowman of Carrol County in the first round, with a pin and a close decision in his next two matches, to make the medal rounds.

The next morning Hosti shocked the No. 4 ranked wrestler in the state with a late rally, an 8-6 win over a Grundy wrestler that put him into the top 6. Though Hosti lost his final two matches they were both tight decisions to two of the top wrestlers in the state and he was very close to pulling off the upset in both.

"Overall, it is hard to believe that Michael made up so much ground on all of these kids who have been wrestling since they were in elementary of middle school, in just 4 years," reported Nagy. "Two years ago Michael returned to our starting line up as a young man who had never placed in the Dulles District. Two years, and two district championships later Michael finished 6th in the State of Virginia."

Though he came up a bit short in a 5-2 decision in his last match, Tyler Young finished a fantastic, 40+ win season for Freedom, with his first trip to the state meet.

"All of his matches were close affairs including a come from behind victory over Jefferson Forest, where he literally did a flip to win!," reported Nagy.

Other Loudoun wrestlers that placed in states included Loudoun County's Kenton Perez (4th at 160) and Logan Smith (7th at 119) and Potomac Falls' Batchka Zulkhuu (5th at 145) and Nick Rea (7th at 112) who defeated district rival Angel Rios of Broad Run.

Complete brackets

Team Scores