The atmosphere in Hidden Valley High School is set to change this Friday from an educational background to a battleground format. This Titan Tough Man Invitational is set to kick off this Friday and run through the entire weekend; the event that brings together all the wrestling talent from across Roanoke County and City school districts. This event has been a staple for the winter sports season and serves as a mid-season checkpoint for the county’s wrestlers. This will be a test of all the wrestlers’ techniques, mental strength, awareness, and conditioning as they face multiple different opponents throughout the weekend. The main objective of the Tough Man is to provide a good baseline on where the wrestlers will be when it comes to placement time and things they could sharpen up in their personal game. Every match will contribute to the wrestlers’ standings and placements, which makes performing well incredibly vital.

Some wrestlers shared their opinion regarding the tournament, senior captain Emry Johnson said, “The entire tournament is always one of the first things we look forward to at the beginning of the season. It gives us a chance to see how well our offseason work paid off and see how much more we would have to improve to place for districts and states.”

Senior wrestler Riley Appel shared her excitement to compete this year, “I moved up a weight class this year, so I am really excited to see how I will perform in a more difficult group.”

For the Titans, this event is always an opportunity to put the school’s name on the map for top wrestlers in the area. With multiple wrestling matches going on at the same time, it will be a chaotic environment, but still exciting and thrilling, so all students who are able to come out and support should.