McLean was the epicenter of Liberty District wrestling this weekend, with the Langley Saxons capturing their 11^th-straight team title and McLean’s Austin Miller being named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler. Of the 14 weight classes, McLean-area high schools earned individual titles in six, and the Saxons had eight championship finalists at the Highlander-hosted event.

The home-gym advantage especially helped Miller, a 125-pound junior who lives across the street from the school. He was able to do his weigh-in on Saturday and then go home to relax ahead of the finals.

“I think it’s a plus for the kids,” said McLean coach Ken Jackson. “You can’t help but get a little more pumped when it’s at your own school.”

Miller said he was excited to win his final bout since it positions him well for this weekend’s Northern Region tournament. He is guaranteed to be one of the top four seeds in his weight class, and the top four at the end of the event earn a spot at the state tournament.

Even though he was the No. 1-seed in the district, he didn’t take any of his matches lightly, though he did win two of his three bouts with a pin, including the final over Madison’s Connor Eckhardt.

“You look ahead, it’ll get you. You’ll think you have it and you’ll walk out there, and the kid who’s coming after you, he’ll get you,” he said. “You’ve got to take it one match at a time.” Miller was ahead, 12-0, before ending the match with a pin late in the second period.

Joining Miller on the top step of the podium for McLean was Paval Hovhannisyan, who earned the district championship at 160 pounds. The Highlanders also had another finalist, Andy Chung, who lost to Langley’s Matt Sahm at 130 pounds. McLean will send its finalists, plus Nick Echeverria (119) and Adilet Uspeev (135) to the regional tournament at Fairfax High School later this week.

Saxons populate podium

Sahm was a champion, along with teammates Jay Ives (135), Matt Wilson (152) and Griffin Dulany (171). The other Langley finalists were Leland Jenkins (119), Will Baird (140), Elie Kawmy (189) and Tate Dulany (215). All of those wrestlers, plus Louis Ives (103), Mark Wilson (145) and Tate Besougloff will appear at the regional tournament.

The Saxons ran away with the district title, leading Stone Bridge 178-114.5 heading into the finals and pulling away to win 196-118.5 in the end.

Sahm, whose older brothers also wrestled for Langley, said he was proud to earn the district title, something none of his other siblings could claim. He ground out a 2-0 win over McLean's Andy Chung in the final.

First-year Langley head coach Jeff Mye said his wrestlers finished just about where he expected.

“The one that I wished would have gone the other way was (Kawmy) and the other ones are just a stepping stone in the right direction,” he said, noting that the district title was nice, but his real goal is to qualify as many Saxons as possible for the state meet.

“If that was the trade-off, I’d trade that off in a heartbeat,” he said.

Mye brings to Langley a mentality born of his time growing up near Buffalo, N.Y., where wrestling is taken more seriously than in Northern Va. While he couldn’t put his philosophy into words, other than saying success comes from “hard work,” his intentions for the program are clear: winning is the standard.

How does he want people to remember the 2010-11 season?

“That I qualified more people to states than Langley has ever done before,” he said.

Mye intends to stick around as the Langley coach, too, which is bad news for other teams in the Liberty District, who were hoping the Saxons’ recent instability at the top would trickle down to their performance on the mat.

Why does he want to stay?

“(Because of the team’s) willingness to please and to do hard work. They want to succeed. They’ll do anything that you ask of them.”

While surely Mye has heard of Northern Region powers like Robinson and Westfield, he didn’t want to make any comments about the regional meet.

“I just got here,” he said. “So I don’t know what to expect next week.”