Dozens of wrestlers suited up with pink shirts, socks and shoelaces for the first Battle of Ashburn event, held Jan. 25 at Broad Run High School. Freedom High School pinned down three victories in the round-robin style event.

Titled Ashburn Duals and sponsored by Honda of Dulles, Stone Bridge, Broad Run and Briar Woods wrestlers also made it out for the “Wrestle for the Cure” event that helped raise cancer awareness and contribute funding to The Cooley Foundation.

The foundation was created by Washington Redskins fan-favorite tight end Chris Cooley – a former high school All-American wrestler himself – to honor his mother, Nancy Cooley, a Briar Woods teacher and breast cancer survivor.

“The idea was to bring cancer awareness not just to football and basketball, but to wrestling as well,” Broad Run coach J.J. Totaro said. “Usually at an event, we’ll have 50, 60 people, but there was easily 300 people here and it made an electric environment, it made it fun.”

Freedom rings

When it came to the battle on the mat, Freedom went to work, sparking a comeback in the first match against Broad Run after the team was down 23-9. A series of hard-fought decision wins and pins allowed Freedom to hold on to a 38-23 win, as Briar Woods tallied a 43-19 dismantling of Stone Bridge on the other side of the gym. The Briar Woods and Freedom matchup was the last between the two Cedar Run District competitors for the season.

The match was much touted beforehand, as the two district superpowers, which recently made the jump to AAA, were about as evenly-matched as they come.

Despite losing the match, Totaro was happy with the production he saw from both his wrestlers on the mat and the support from the fans.

“You hope to wrestle well, and to give it everything you have, and the kids did that,” Totaro said. “Did we come out on top? No, but I can’t look at that match and say I’m disappointed with what we did. We wrestled hard, and the fans helped out the entire way.”

In its second matchup, Freedom went up against Stone Bridge and put up the biggest point differential of the night, executing nearly flawlessly on the mat for a 69-9 victor, highlighted by a series of pins in the lighter weight classes. Broad Run was able to produce a 49-30 victory against Briar Woods in the second heat.

In the third matchup of the night, Broad Run jumped out to an early 17-9 lead against Stone Bridge, which they wouldn’t relinquish. Freedom coasted to its third victory of the night after putting up a 27-4 tally on Briar Woods by the 170-pound bout, despite benching most key wrestlers.

100: Broad Run senior Neil Hartman pins his Stone Bridge opponent for the 100th win of his career. A fan section of family and friends burst into cheers and wore “100 wins” t-shirts. Times-Mirror Staff Photo/Matt Vecchio

100 wins

Broad Run senior Neil Hartman hit an impressive personal milestone in the 138-pound bought against Stone Bridge, racking up his 100th win after pinning the opposing Bulldog wrestler.

A cohort of family and friends donned “100 wins” shirts to honor the occasion, and fans screamed in the Broad Run gymnasium as the referee struck the mat, solidifying the pin.

Pink power

Despite wearing traditional uniforms, pink was the color of the night, as all wrestlers sported a wardrobe that would make any breast cancer awareness supporter proud.

The pink shoes laces were sponsored by Reliv and Northern Virginia Homes sponsored the pink socks.

Totaro said earlier in the week that his goal was to get 1,000 spectators in the gymnasium, and while that number was lofty, the crowd that did come was electric and roared with each pin or decision.

“It’s always nice to see people do things for breast cancer awareness,” Nancy Cooley said. “My family’s ties to wrestling are huge. My brother was a state champion wrestler, both my kids wrestled since they were four. Chris was a state-champion wrestler and my younger son was a state-placer. Chris was an All-American his senior year, so yeah, I watch wrestling a lot.”

Briar Woods coach Ryan Rogers said that nearly everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer, and the event helps bring that to light. But Rogers also thought the event helped drive interest in intra-county competition.

“Loudoun County is such a big place these days, that it’s hard to build rivalries,” Rogers said. “We’re trying to get people back in one building, under one roof, competing in one day. This is the last time we’ll see these teams this year, so it was fun being able to compete. There was definitely a big crowd here tonight.”

Little tykes

In addition to the big boys battling it out, the Sterling Wrestling Club, a youth program for Sterling and Ashburn, had an opportunity to show off in the middle of the gym as well. The young grapplers took to the mat in front of the large crowd, often drawing roars and attention away from the high school matchups.

“It was great having the little league guys here,” Totaro said. “Those guys really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun.”

Broad Run also hosted its Alumni/Senior Night, which highlighted the team’s graduating seniors and team managers, as well as some wrestlers from the past who made it into town.

Totaro was pleased with the event.

“It turned out really, really well. I’m glad so many people came out and supported it, and it was really a great night for everybody.”