HISTORY MADE
♦ Cedartown, Rockmart have landmark performances at state wrestling championships.
There were more than one hundred Georgia high schools represented at the GHSA Traditional State Wrestling Championships in Macon this past weekend, but the two from Polk County came away with some history.
The Rockmart Yellow Jackets put a cap on a flawlessly executed season by having six wrestlers win individual state championships and 10 finish in the top four of their respective divisions to propel them the Class AA team title.
Meanwhile, Cedartown put a claim on Polk County’s first girl to place at the state tournament as sophomore Kaitlyn Fields dominated the competition to win the GHSA Girls’ 120-pound championship.
Cedartown also can claim a two-time state champion in junior Adam Payton, who won the Class 4A 132-pound title. The Bulldogs also had two state placers at Zack Gray finished fourth at 113 pounds and Gage Mason finished fourth at 138 pounds.
Wrapping up the weekend with a nice ribbon was Rockmart’s overwhelming dominance in the Class AA brackets.
The Jackets, who had already won the Class AA state duals title earlier this year, sent 13 wrestlers to Macon and had 11 of them score points on the way to a final team score of 244.5, more than any other team in any classification at the state tournament.
Fannin County finished second in Class AA with 169.5 points.
Two Rockmart wrestlers, senior TK Davis and junior Nahzir Turner, won their second state title in a row.
Davis won the 120-pound division with a major decision over Allen Calderon of Eagles Landing Christian Academy to complete an undefeated season at 55-0. Turner went 53-2 this season, winning the 165-pound title with a 16-0 technical fall over Matthew Lopez of Berrien County.
Jacket seniors Gunner Chambers (126 pounds), James Murray (132) and Jase Davis (285) each won their respective division’s championship.
Chambers and Davis both won by pins and lost just one match all season.
Freshman Hagen Sharp won the sixth and final individual title for Rockmart as he battled Fannin County’s Blake Summers in the 113-pound finals and pulled out a 7-5 victory.
Rockmart sophomore Malachi Macedonio (106) and senior Hunter Wilson (144) each finished as runners-up in their divisions. Austin Wooten (175) and Tyler Malone (190) each came in fourth place.
Cedartown’s celebrations
started last Friday with the Class 4A finals as Payton found himself facing fellow Region 7-4A competitor Colson Hoffman of CentralCarroll in a rematch of the region 132-pound finals.
Payton was losing 6-5 when he completed a reverse with 43 seconds left in the final period and held on for the 7-6 decision and the championship.
Fields, who finished the season with a 23-11 record, won her first two matches by fall before an 18-3 technical fall victory in the 120-pound semifinals. She faced Zammy Okoli of Woodward Academy in the championship round and won with a pin in the third period.