The Bishop O'Connell varsity wrestling team, coached by Bill Carpenter, is off to one of the best starts in school history. The Knights currently weigh in with a perfect dual match record of 11-0 and have also fared well in three tournaments to date.

In dual matches, the Knights have defeated: Episcopal (42-25), Landon (49-18), Potomac School (72-3), Good Counsel (66-9), Georgetown Prep (48-18), Saint Stephens/Saint Agnes (39-30), Paul VI (37-30), McNamara (78-6), Yorktown (45-19), Washington-Lee (74-6) and Wakefield (57-15).

In other words, the Knights have pummelled their opponents by a staggering 607-179 margin. In the McNamara match, all Knight wrestlers won their respective match via a pin.

The Knights have wrestled in three prestigious invitationals: the Northern Virginia Classic, the Park View H.S. Invitational and the St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes Invitational.

The Knights placed sixth at Fairfax, third at Park View and third at St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes out of a combined 48 teams competing.

Spearheading the Knights thus far have been sophomore Vaughn Lewis (103 pounds); sophomore Norman Anderson (112); freshman Kris Park (119); senior Eric Young (125); junior R.J. Constantino (130); senior Adam Hinsley (135); junior Dan Yates (140); senior Nick Nardone (145); junior Jason Buckingham (145); sophomore Steve Ratley (152); sophomore James Tchabo (160); junior Andrew Segalas (171); freshman Michael Laird (171); senior Joe Yates (189); sophomore Ed Lynch (215)); and sophomore Warren Negri (heavyweight).

The Yates brothers are team captains along with Ratley, who is ranked number one in the entire region by the Washington Post.

The Knights as a team are ranked high in Northern Virginia by the Journal Newspapers.

Last season O'Connell tied DeMatha for the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Championship.

"This season we had to replace five or six guys (including Reed Carpenter, t coaches son, who now wrestles for Virginia Tech)," said Carpenter. "We're kind of retooling this season as opposed to rebuilding. Our team is very steady. We're looking to have a good season."