Local wrestlers via for area mat championships
The Gordon Lee Trojans will send seven wrestlers to state sectionals at Irwin County High School next weekend after they all finished in the top three at the Area 3-A tournament at Darlington over the weekend.
Braden Jarvis continued his undefeated senior year by winning at 170 pounds, while Hunter Burnette also took first at 106.
Three Trojans - Tomy Duke (113), Jarrett Lassetter (160) and Caleb Vines (220) - all finished as runner-up in their respective weight classes, while Logan Butler (138) and Owen Frost (182) each took third.
Gordon Lee amassed 120 points to finish third in the team standings behind area champion Trion (215) and runner-up Darlington (158). ELCA (83) was fourth while Mount Zion (78) was fifth.
In the Area 3-AAA tournament at Bremen, the Ringgold Tigers saw one wrestler win a title and three more advance to sectionals, which will also be held at Bremen.
Griffin Green took first place at 145 pounds for the Blue-and-White. Logan Skeen (120) and Holden Moss (132) each finished second, while Malachi Parker (170) was fourth.
Catoosa County’s other entry in to the field, the LFO Warriors, will send five wrestlers to the sectional event next weekend.
Jacob Brown (152) and Nathan Williams (182) were each second. Johnathan Cutcher (170) placed third, while Noah Shelton (132) and Kameron Peters (285) were both fourth.
With 217.5 points, Sonoraville won the area team title, followed by Bremen (185.5) and Lovett (149). Adairsville (110.5) was fourth. Ringgold (102.5) was fifth, while the remainder of the field included Coahulla Creek (98), LFO (90.5), Murray County (87), Calhoun (85) and Haralson County (75).
Gilmer played host to the Area 6-AAAA tournament and the Bobcats won the team title with 214 points. Pickens (121) held off Heritage (115.5) for second place, while Ridgeland (108) finished fourth. Northwest (96), Southeast (76) and LaFayette (55) rounded out the field.
A total of nine Generals qualified for next weekend’s sectionals at Woodward Academy.
Ryan Craft (106), Ian Burgett (126) and Seth Ingle (152) were all runner-up in their weight classes, while Garret Stephens (138), Spencer Davies (160), Alex Eacret (170), Drake Parker (182) and Zach Brown (195) all took third. Illness forced Jeffery Curtis (220) to injury default to fourth place and Tyler Tomey (132) will be an alternate after placing fifth.
Ridgeland saw six wrestlers punch tickets for sectionals, three as area champions. Jordan Hughley (138), Jacob Mariakis (145) and Ryan McGill (170) each won titles. Tommy Lamb (220) placed third, while Hunter Smith (120) and Dylan Swanson (160) were both fourth.
Three more Panthers, Preston Perrault (113), Evan Burnette (152) and Ethan Morgan (195) finished fifth and will await standby calls for alternates.
As for LaFayette, Cody Deal was champion at 220 and was one of five Ramblers to qualify for sectionals. Tyler Beard (182) was second and Matthew Wallin (285) was third, while Hector Velez (106) and Carson Lanier (126) were both fourth.
Mason Alexander (138), Hunter Deal (145) and Cameron Hollingsworth (160) all placed fifth and will be alternates.