North’s Webb wins tourney
By: Justin Feil
Chris Webb didn’t wrestle as well as he had hoped at the start of last season.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North senior is certainly making up for it quickly this season. Thursday, he won the 215-pound weight class at the Bears Invitational at East Brunswick High.
"It was a huge surprise," Webb said. "All I said going in was I was going to give it my all. I had 16 power points so it didn’t look like I was going to do so well."
The tournament used a power-point system based on last year’s records to seed the wrestlers. Webb, who was 6-14 last year, was the third seed. But he won one bout by pin and one by decision to advance to the finals where he stunned himself by pinning Colonia’s Stas Zhilinsky in 2:35.
"He was the one guy I said I didn’t want to wrestle," Webb said. "At weigh-ins, you can judge who’s the better guys by who are the bigger guys. He was a big fellow. I turned to a teammate and said, I hope that’s one guy I don’t have to wrestle."
Webb wasn’t exactly a picture of confidence going into the final match. Zhilinsky had pinned each of his first two opponents in less than one minute. Webb was hoping he wouldn’t become Zhilinsky’s third victim in the final.
"I was proud of myself to make it that far," Webb said. "I have no idea (how I won). I went out there, and I don’t get nervous anymore, and just through the course of the match, I was able to put some moves on. I thought maybe I could catch him in something. I finally caught him."
It helped Webb improve to 4-2 this season and showed what a value he will be to the Knights this year. WW-P North is 0-4 and takes on the Robbinsville junior varsity on Wednesday before tackling Nottingham on Saturday. Webb goes into those matches riding plenty of momentum, a far cry from last year’s difficult start.
"Right now, Chris has a lot more confidence in himself," said Knights head coach Bill Mealy. "With that four years under his belt, he has more confidence in the moves."
Webb and Jeff Rotella, who finished third at 135 pounds at the Bears Invitational, established themselves as team leaders with the top finishes among Knight wrestlers.
"I was real happy he made it," Mealy said of Webb. "Last year didn’t go quite as well as he wanted it to. This was his first time in finals. Once the kid threw his first move and Chris countered it well, it was just a matter of making sure he didn’t get caught after that.
"Winning will help him. He wrestles real smart. When the guy tried to throw a headlock, he recognized and countered it well. After that, he was looking for that."
While Zhilinsky was one of the bigger wrestlers at 215 pounds, Webb is on the low end of the weight class. He is working toward reaching the 189-pound weight class he wrestled at last season, and spurred to a better season after his quick start.
"I had a bad beginning of the season last year," Webb noted. "At the end of last year, I started getting my stuff together. I was there freshman year. I didn’t wrestle my sophomore year. Then I was thrown into the varsity lineup junior year and I was rusty."
Webb actually wrestled in a junior varsity tournament at this time last season. It helped him gain experience. As his junior season went on, that rust disappeared. He’s picked up where he left off at the end of last season and winning the 215-pound title is a confidence builder for his final scholastic season.
"I just caught an arm and went into a half-nelson and somehow I got him down," said Webb, who also played center for the Knight football team. "It gives you a big ego boost. I’m hoping to do pretty well."
Webb expects to compete as a 189-pounder as he gets further into the season. His wins Thursday established himself as a top tier wrestler for the Colonial Valley Conference season. After some struggles last year, he’s hoping to prove how far he’s come.
"I’m going to in our conference, so I might see a lot of the same kids," Webb said. "I have some payback to give."