C&F Bank’s Athleteof the Week C& FBa nk AthleteoftheWeek

WRESTLING ALL-STAR

WHO: LUKEWELLS

WHATHE DID:

ThePowhatanwrestlingteam finishedthirdintheVHSLClass4,Region BTournamentthattheyhostedonFeb. 10-11,withsophomoreLukeWellsand seniorBrittonProffittbothtakinghome regiontitlesintheirweightclasses.

Wellswonhissecondregiontitlein asmanyseasons,takingthe120-pound championshipwithtwopinsanda comebackperformanceinthefinalmatch toclaimhisregioncrown.Bothofhis pinscamewithinthefirstperiod,with hissemifinalsvictoryoverMonacan’s AustinJeffreyendingwithjust10seconds rema iningin theopening period

Inthefinal ag a in st Spotsyl vania’s SethAyo,WellsfoughtbackafterAyo cameoutstrongintheearlypartsofthe firstperiodandeventuallyclaimeda6-3 decision.

“Iwasdown,andIwasthinkingto myself‘Ican’tlosetothisguy,’soIhadto kickitupanothergear.Iknowhecame atmefastintheveryfirstblowofthe whistle,”Wellssaid.

Powhatan swimmer Cole

Malkerson hit the biggest stage in VHSL swimming for the second time in his high school career, and with this being his last run with the team, he had to make sure to go out strong.

Malkerson was again the lone representative for the Indians at the VHSL Class 4 State Championships, once again held at SwimRVA in Richmond, after being the first Powhatan swimmer since 2016 to qualify when he achieved the feat his junior year.

In both state appearances, Malkerson advanced through his skill in the 100-yard backstroke event, in which he placed within the top-5 in his last two regional championships. His 56.09-second regional swim this year was a new school record, beating his previous state-qualifying time of 56.88 seconds.

At this year’s state championship, his time wasn’t as good as his record-breaking regional feat, but it did improve upon his final time in last year’s state championship, which clocked in at 57.32 seconds and placed him in 14th.

He placed 14th again this year, but the time was even better, with the Powhatan senior hitting the wall and stopping the clock at 56.61 seconds.

In his race during the preliminaries, he set an even better mark, finishing the backstroke event with a time of 56.33 seconds, good for 12th place among the 22 swimmers.

The states appearance wraps up another impressive season for Malkerson, who leaves the swim team as a decorated athlete that’ll surely find himself with some postseason accolades to his name as one of the region’s top speedsters in the pool.

Robby Fletcher can be reached at rfletcher@powhatantoday.com.