ROCK HILL, S.C. – Both the Nation Ford Falcons and Catawba Ridge Copperheads had wrestlers place in a very crowded and tough Bearcat Invitational at Rock Hill High School.
Catawba Ridge finished 21st out of 46 teams and had four wrestlers place in the two-day tournament which culminated on Saturday, Jan. 4.
Catawba Ridge had 87.5 points and were led by a third-place finish from Alex Johnson at 215-pounds. Johnson, who has won three straight tournaments coming into the event, finished third with a first period pin over Lake Norman’s Keyshon Morrison.
The Copperheads had two wrestlers place at 106-pounds. Taylon Winker finished fourth and Jacob McClure finished sixth in the weight class. The final wrestler to place was a seventh-place finish from Cole Stukitz, who won 4-2 over York’s Hayden Adkins.
Nation Ford finished 32nd out of 46 teams with 56 points. They had just eight wrestlers at the event, which two of them placed. Derek Bylone van Sandwyk finished second at 190-pounds falling 2-1 in sudden victory to Rock Hill’s Trey Robinson.
The Falcons’ Lorenzo Smith finished eighth at 215-pounds to place in the tournament.
Indian Land won the tournament with 179.5 points and had six wrestlers place in the top eight.
Jan. 4 Roundup
The Nation Ford boys’ basketball team improved to 7-6 on the season with a 57-52 win over Lakeside High School in Georgia on Saturday. Nation Ford will host Indian Land on Tuesday, Jan. 7 for their second Region 3-5A game of the season.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
