Knoxville Invitational - Knoxville Catholic High School, Tennessee

We brought a very young team to Knoxville, with only four returning starters off of last year's State runner-up team.  The talk of the tournament was 189 lb state Runner-Up Matt Book.  Matt returned from summer knee surgery for the first time to not only win the tournament, but stole the "Most Outstanding Wrestler" Award as well.  130 pounder Chad Wright also won an award for the "Best Finals Match."  The team finished 2nd behind a very good Baylor team out of Chattanooga.  Matt Book (189) finished first.  Finishing 2nd were:  Taylor Gifford (119), Danny Knopp (125), Chad Wright (130), Michael Gruber (135), and Hunt Galloway (160).  Finishing 3rd were:  Josh Schmitt (140) and Kyle McKee (145).   Abe Parvatiyar (103) finished 4th , with Jon Wallace (152) and Kenneth Czar (215) both finished 5th.  This was a great tournament for us, because ten of these guys had no prior varsity experience.

Warner Robbins Duals - Warner Robbins High School, Georgia

The team wrestled 8 duals, finishing with a record of 7-1, with a loss to Troup Co. in the finals. The team defeated: SW Macon, Baldwin, Lee Co., Warner Robins, Alexander, Carver, and Butler. Voted the best wrestler in their weight class were: Gruber, McKee, Wallace, and Book. Voted 2nd were: Parvatiyar, Wright, Schmitt, and Galloway. Voted 3rd were: Gifford, Knopp, and Czar

Brookwood Invitational, Georgia

WRAL Invitational - Raleigh, North Carolina

Central Florida Duals - Orlando, Florida

Once again, we traveled to Lyman High School in Florida for the Central Florida Duals. The team wrestled 8 duals and finished with a record of 6-2. We finished 3rd, with losses to University High (Florida) and Mount Anthony (Vermont). We defeated: St. Cloud, Cypress Creek, Lyman, Land O'Lakes, Astronaut, and Coral Springs. Matt Book won the award for the fastest pin with :07. Taylor Gifford and Michael Gruber were voted best in their weight class. Voted 2nd were: Parvatiyar, Wright, Schmitt, and Book. Voted 3rd were: Knopp, Galloway, and Leduff. Voted 4th were: Butler, and Czar.

Gwinnett County Tournament

This year we expanded the field to 24 teams to make this tournament more competitive. We wrestled well finishing 2nd as a team. Championships were turned in from Gifford, Gruber, and Book. This was Book's third Gwinnett County Championship in a row. He was voted "Most Outstanding Wrestler" as well. Danny Knopp had a good tournament finishing 2nd. Jon Wallace also wrestled well and finished 3rd. Finishing 4th were: Parvatiyar, Wright, McKee, Galloway, and Czar. Schmitt finished 5th and McCarthy finished 6th. This was the first time in 5 years that we did not win this tournament.

Wildcat Classic - Valdosta, Gerogia

The team defended last years Championship at this tournament by placing 2nd this year behind AAAA Champion Troup Co. There were some good Georgia and Florida team present. Book, Gruber, and Wright all had outstanding tournament placing 1st. Kyle McKee made it to the finals of his first varsity tournament and finished 2nd. Gifford and Czar finished 3rd, and Parvatiyar finished 4th. We wrestled pretty well, as this was our last tournament before the Area Championships.

State Qualifier / Area 8AAAA Tournament

We could not repeat last year's championship, but finished 2nd in the 12 team field. Winning Area Championships were: Gruber, Gifford, and Book. Once again, this was Book's third Area Championship in a row. Finishing 2nd were: Knopp, Wallace, and Czar. Finishing 3rd were: Parvatiyar, Wright, Schmitt, and McCarthy. Dallas Leduff placed 4th. We qualified 12 wrestlers for the state tournament.

AAAA State Tournament

We had some tough early match ups, none of which went our way. Danny Knopp and Kenneth Czar both lost close matches early to get eliminated. Chad Wright wrestled fantastic to finish 4th. Taylor Gifford and Michael Gruber both had great tournaments finishing second. Both were 3rd last year as sophomores. Both had pins in the semi-finals, but both had tough losses in the finals. Matt Book was the star for the Panthers. He improved on last years runner-up finish with a 6-5 victory in the finals for the 189 pound title. He became Parkview's 14th State Champion. Our sixth place finish as a team was short of our goal of placing in the top five, but with this many young kids, we knew it would be tough.

We finished the season with a 25-4 dual meet record. The highlight was probably being the only team in Gwinnett County to win in the Cobb-Gwinnett Challenge, in which we beat Walton (5th at state) in one of the evenings feature matches.

A look at next season: We should be very tough next season. We return 11 starters, 8 state qualifiers, and 3 state placers. We also have some very good young kids coming up from a JV that included 14 county place-winners out of 15 weight classes. We also had the best 9th grade class to ever enter Parkview, one that had 8 county champions (not including Kyle McKee who was on the varsity). We are excited about the first ever State Dual Tournament in Georgia, as we feel like we have a good shot to contend for the title next season. With hard work, we should have a good number of kids who will be ready to compete for state-placement honors. Next season's schedule will include: Walton Duals, Irmo (S.C.) Invitational, Midwest City Classic (Ohio), Central Florida Duals, West Henderson Inv. (N.C.), Valdosta Inv., as well as the Gwinnett Inv., Area Duals, Area Championships, AAAAA State, and AAAAA State Duals. We plan on continuing our tradition of training all spring and summer in preparation for such a demanding schedule, as well as attending the Disney Duals and High School nationals this summer.