“That’s heart, right there,” said Camp Verde High School head wrestling coach Bob Weir’s wife Daria, pointing across the Tim’s Toyota Center floor Saturday, Feb. 15, to senior Isaiah McReynolds at the end of the Cowboys’ rally for a successful defense of their Division IV state title. “He wrestled the whole season with an injured knee.”
McReynolds affirmed he had, in fact, torn a medial collateral ligament during football season, an injury which, never fully healed, he bore through his entire drive to the 138-pound state championship match, where he finally was pinned by undefeated three-time state champ Dallyn Despain of Mogollon High School.
“I need surgery,” McReynolds said. “He’s a strong kid, a really good wrestler, but I could have beaten him if my knee wasn’t so horrible.”
His story was one of several championship journeys among the titled and untitled alike for the Cowboys, united in late January by one purpose: To bring home a sixth and final title for CVHS Principal Weir, who is retiring as head wrestling coach after 22 seasons.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Feb. 19, issue of the Camp Verde Journal.
