Moorefield wrestling wins first Class A state title on shoulders of Van Meter family
MOOREFIELD, W.Va. (BVM) — It was a close finish for the Moorefield High School Yellow Jackets wrestling team during the West Virginia Class A state wrestling championship on April 22. When the team totals were posted, the Yellow Jackets won the championship by a total of 0.5 points. That was all that separated Moorefield from Cameron High School for the team to win its first Class A state championship.
“It feels pretty good,” Moorefield head coach T.J. Van Meter said. “Obviously 0.5 points we needed a little help on day two. … Coming into day two we weren’t mathematically eliminated, but we were going to need some help from some other teams to beat some of the other schools’ top guys. It was something crazy like 12 or 13 matches went our way and each one we needed and each one went our way.”
Mission accomplished!#2021statechamps https://t.co/wW6cI00FGl
— T.J. Van Meter (@o1dmanstr3ngth) April 23, 2021
The biggest win of the day for the Yellow Jackets came from their team captain senior Isaac Van Meter. Isaac, who won the state championship a year ago in the 170-pound class, again found himself in the championship match, this time in the 220-pound class. Once again, Isaac would be victorious as he would beat Clay County’s Noah Castro 5-2 while leading the entire match.
It was a culmination of a great and successful career for Isaac. The senior finished his career with a 190-8 record while also never being pinned during his four years. Isaac made the tournament each of his four years with the Yellow Jackets, earning third place in the 160-pound class as a freshman and a runner-up finish in the 170-pound class as a sophomore prior to his state championship victories as an upperclassmen, so the ability to go out not only as an individual champion, but a team champion was a huge accomplishment for the senior.
“He was wanting it for the team,” T.J. said. “He was wanting it for the guys he’d grown up with, who he wrestled peewee with, who he’d wrestled all through high school with. … That’s what really pushed him to come back to wrestling this year.”
The achievement was made even sweeter by the fact that the team win also helped Isaac’s coach, T.J., win the first team championship as the head of the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s sort of bittersweet watching your kids grow up and they move on to bigger and better things and he’ll be missed,” T.J. said. “I’ll miss him as a father and I’ll miss him as a coach. He’s a great kid. … A good, well-rounded, well-grounded kid that any program would be happy for him to be a part of.”
In total, Moorefield sent six wrestlers to the state championship, which tied the most of any Class A team. Ty Clayton won the 160-pound fifth-place match and 120-pound Layne Spitzer, 182-pound Kevin Wetzel, 195-pound Ryan Hardbarger and 285-pound Vincent Cyrus each also appeared in the championship tournament.
Though the team didn’t have many individual champions, it was more about how the team worked as a unit than any one wrestler. While the season wasn’t nearly as long as it traditionally would be, T.J. will hold the season in special esteem moving forward.
“They were fighters, they got better every week,” T.J. said. “I’ll remember this season as one we should’ve been able to enjoy longer, but it was great the way that it was. You couldn’t ask for a better ending to the season.”
Now, the Van Meters, both father and son, will enjoy some time away from each other as Isaac will attend Division I Mount St. Mary’s University as a student-athlete. However, he won’t be a wrestler like one may think, but a baseball player.
“He’s done both and done both at a high level for a long time,” T.J. said. “I guess as he started his high school career he started leaning towards baseball. … He loves both, but his heart lies in baseball and I respect that as his dad and his coach.”
I’m very excited to say I’m verbally committed to play baseball at Mount Saint Mary’s University. I’m very thankful for God, my family, coaches and teammates for getting me to the next level. #gomount pic.twitter.com/PpuY7pcTtL
— Isaac Van Meter (@zeekthefreak_15) January 28, 2020
Isaac was named the 2019 Potomac Valley Conference Player of the Year, a 2020 Perfect Game/Rawlings and Baseball Factory/Under Armour All-American and has won two state titles with Moorefield. So far in his baseball career with the Yellow Jackets, Isaac has a 13-1 career record with a 1.50 ERA which includes 73 strikeouts as a sophomore (he didn’t play a junior season due to COVID-19 canceling the year) and has also been named all-state in both 2018 and 2019.
“Isaac is a power right-handed arm,” The Mount head baseball coach Scott Thompson said in a school press release. “We look for Isaac to compete for a possible closer and as a starter. He is very athletic and works very hard to be the best that he can be.”
However, it was Isaac’s baseball career that almost derailed the wrestling team its opportunity to make history. In August, Isaac had Tommy John surgery on his elbow and it would take him months to recover. However, thanks to the season being pushed back, Isaac was able to return to the mat for his senior season. It was his win, the last match for Moorefield on the weekend, that secured the state title making his return crucial for the Yellow Jackets.
“At the time he made that decision, we thought wrestling was out of the question, out of the picture,” T.J. said. “Obviously with COVID and everything going on, dates were pushed back and seasons were shortened unfortunately, but it worked to our benefit to be able to get him out on the mat.”
Though his wrestling career may have come to an end, Isaac will be able to go out on top as a champion, alongside his father. With the program’s first Class A championship now in their trophy case, the Yellow Jackets can thank the Van Meter family for the hardware.
“[I’ll remember] all the people’s hard work, all the dedication, all the miles on the vehicles taking kids to tournaments and time in the room going to coaching clinics and camps to help these kids compete for a state title,” T.J. said. “It’s really almost unfathomable to imagine the time effort and energy that went into this to make it happen.”
