In his last year at Western, Gabe Rody-Ramazani is solidifying his position as the best wrestler in Western Albemarle history. That’s saying something, considering all the greats that have walked the halls. Gabe has enjoyed a great senior year, coming in as an anticipated top conference wrestler and through the season displayed every ounce of potential he has. Rody-Ramazani started wrestling in the 8th grade for Western. He worked hard from day one and stuck with the wrestling team. He got better and tougher to beat every year he participated and after 5 years he finally hit a mark only the greats can achieve. He won his 100th match at Fort Defiance in a meet against Spotswood to officially put himself into the Western record books.

“It was a just a little meet,” said Gabe, reminiscing about getting his 100th victory “but it was really special to achieve such a feat.” When asked if he knew he was coming up on his 100th pin down he replied “I did know actually. A wrestler had gotten 100 wins for his career last year and I really wanted to do that too so I kept track of it.”

Just like every great competitor, Gabe doesn’t settle. He wasn’t done yet. The wrestling star powered through the last meets of the season with a near perfect record to head into the postseason with energy and force. “I had a lot of confidence going into postseason play,” said the star Warrior, “but I knew the regular season means nothing if you don’t dominate your way to states.”

Yet they did dominate. Conference and regionals were a breeze for Gabe, Russ Hill (a star in his own right for the wrestling squad), and the Western team as a whole. Gabe methodically continued to blow through other wrestlers as he made it to states and creeped up, unknowingly, on another Western Albemarle record.

February 20, 2015 was a day that Gabe will never forget. That was the date of the state meet at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia, where Russ Hill placed 5th overall and Gabe became the 3rd best wrestler in state at the end of the day, his best finish at states ever. “It was so great to go to states and perform well there.” he explained. “It has always been my dream to go to states and to realize that dream has been unreal.” What he also discovered after the meet was that he broke the single season record for most wins in a single season with 51. Gabe said, “The news that I broke the record actually came as a surprise to me. All my focus had been on preparing for states that I hadn’t really kept track of it.”

With no nationals for wrestling, Gabe’s high school wrestling career is unfortunately over. Yet, he may not have faced his last match yet. “I have no idea if I am going to wrestle in college. Obviously, my focus in college is education. But if the opportunity to wrestle presents itself, I will take it. With Gabe leaving at the end of this exhilarating school year, it begs the question: How will the team he left fare in the 2015-16 season? Gabe assured the masses not to fret. “The future looks very bright at Western. We’ve got a great sophomore and junior class looking to step up, and a potentially great freshman class. I have done my best to mentor and teach them all.” As we say adieu to arguably the best wrestler in Western history, we look forward to next season and the star that will pop up, but until then, we enjoy the many spring sports of 2015.