THE DRAWING BOARD
Ten local wrestlers place fifth or better in Macon
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The six high schools representing Catoosa and Walker Counties sent 38 wrestlers to the GHSA State Championships in Macon last week with 10 earning medals and two finishing as state runners-up.
The first finalist was Lafayette senior Avery Sullivan, who went 4-0 on Wednesday to earn a spot in the 132-pound Class AAA state final on Thursday.
Sullivan began the tournament with a late third-period pin of West Hall’s Brian Armstrong before a 5-0 decision against Stephens County’s Ben Beady.
Facing Appling County’s Anthony Benton
in the quarterfinals, Sullivan dominated with 15-0 technical fall that ended midway through the second period. He matched up with North Hall’s Eli Domingo in the championship semifinals on Wednesday night and held on for a 5-2 win.
He would match up against undefeated Eli Knight of Sonoraville in the final bout, a week after getting pinned in the second period by Knight in the Area 6 final. Sullivan would put up a tremendous fight in the rematch, but Knight would finally get the win by pinfall with 13 seconds remaining in the match.
After taking two years off away from the sport, Heritage’s Zach Brown returned to the mats this season and claimed an area championship on his way to Macon. Once there, he also went 4-0 to punch his ticket to the Class AAAA 220-pound championship match.
After a first-round bye, Brown recorded three consecutive pins against North Oconee’s Jonah Hunt (second period) and Doughtery’s Malachi Greene (first period) and Flowery Branch’s Clay Anderson (third period). It was a nice measure of revenge for Brown, who got pinned by Anderson at the State Duals last month.
Brown would square off against a familiar foe in Southeast Whitfield’s Jose Leon, whom Brown had already beaten twice during
the season, including a 5-2 win in the area championship match.
However, the Generals’ standout would ultimately suffer a 3-1 loss on Friday night in a match that had to stopped with four seconds left in the third after Brown suffered a leg injury.
Lafayette and Heritage each had two more medalists in Macon.
Rambler 106-pounder Jacob Hamilton and 152-pounder Karson Ledford both got through to the championship quarterfinals before suffering their first losses. Ledford, a senior, would go on to take third in the weight class, while Hamilton, a freshman, would eventually tie for fifth.
For the Generals, sophomores Tate Thomas (106) and Cayman
Hughey (132) would both make it to the championship semifinals before tasting defeat. Both wrestlers would go on to tie for fifth place.
Ridgeland saw both of its state qualifiers medal in Macon.
Senior Aiden Raymer (152) advanced to the semifinals of his weight class before falling to the eventual state runner-up. He would battle back to finish third, earning the podium spot with a final pin, while senior Tommy Lamb (285) lost to an undefeated wrestler in West Laurens’ Chase Horne, who went on to win state. Lamb would ultimately tie for fifth place.
Gordon Lee also had two fifthplace finishers last week.
In Class A, junior Montgomery Kephart advanced to the semifi
nals before losing to the eventual state champion, David Bertrand of Mt. Pisgah Christian. Kephart would move on in the consolations before tying for fifth.
Then, at the GHSA Girls’ State Championships, also held in Macon, junior Makayden Martin had a bye and a technical fall in the all-classification 102-pound class before losing for the first time in the tournament. She would come charging back through the consolation brackets and eventually tie for fifth out of 44 other wrestlers in the weight class.
Also competing at in Macon was Gordon Lee’s Wil Tumblin (113), Zane Murdock (126), Tomy Duke (132), Zach Walston (145), Nathaniel Hunley (152), Timy
Duke (182), Justin Cruise (195), Mason Leming (220) and Gabe Lowe (285), while Lafayette’s other state qualifiers included Braxton Beavers (120), Levi Ledford (138), Carson Lanier (145), Hunter Deal (160), Caleb Zwiger (170) and David Patterson (285).
Evan Wingrove (138), Garrett Pennington (145) and Skylar Grant (152) also wrestled for Heritage at state. Ringgold was represented by Zane Rohrer (106), Gage Keener (113), Hudson Moss (120), Nolan Rohrer (126), Levi Lowery (182), Kaiser Cross (195) and Brentlee Raby (220), while Nick Kapherr (145), Tyler Frady (220) and Taylor Frady (285) carried the banner for LFO.
The state team champions included Mt. Pisgah Christian (A), Fannin County (AA), Rockmart (AAA), Jefferson (AAAA), Woodland-cartersville (AAAAA), Buford (AAAAAA), Camden County (AAAAAAA) and Chestatee (Girls).
Gordon Lee (54 points) was 15th in Class A. Lafayette was eighth in Class AAA with 92.5 points. Ringgold (37) was 23rd and LFO (13) tied for 36th in the same classification, while in Class AAAA, Heritage (71) placed 14th overall and Ridgeland (31) tied for 25th place.
Martin’s performance earned Gordon Lee 12.5 points and a 70th place finish out of the 121 schools who scored at least one team point in the girls’ state tournament.
More coverage of the GHSA State Championships can be found on our website (northwestgeorgianews.com).