Local wrestling teams crown almost a dozen Region champions Saturday during their tournaments.
In the Region 3-5A tournament at Fort Mill High, the Jackets crowned six region champions and Nation Ford crowned three region champions.
Fort Mill had 13 wrestlers in the tournament, as the Jackets were strong in the lower weights getting four region champions.
Fort Mill won region titles in the first four weight classes. Lincoln Green led things off with a 12-0 major decision at 106-pounds to win the title. Jacob Nally followed him at 113-pounds with a pin and then Tucker Gibson also got a pin at 120-pounds. Aidan Eubanks finished off the first four weight class region winners with a pin at 126-pounds.
The Jackets crowned two more region champions in Noah Kitchton at 152-pounds and Sebastian Villatoro at 182-pounds.
Fort Mill had second place finishers in Logan Shope (132) and Henry Debbout (220). Finishing third for the Jackets were Cade Simpson (160), Joshua Smith (195) and finishing fourth for Fort Mill was Nate Spears (138).
“I think we did well,” said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock. “We were still sitting some guys. They are still on the recovery route. I hope to have them back next week.”
Nation Ford performed well also as they had three region champions in Isaac Nieves (170), Alan Minarro (195) and Clayton Rygol (220) out of the 10 wrestlers they fielded in the tournament.
The Falcons had a second-place finisher in Diego Ramierez-Gutierez at 182-pounds. They had third place finishers in Jacob Moore (113), Danny Gilstorf (126), Mitchell Ladamus (132), and Dalton Curtsinger (145). Todd Lindquist finished fourth at 152-pounds for Nation Ford.
“A couple calls didn’t go our way, but I thought we wrestled well,” said Nation Ford head coach Bret Peltier.
Brock was named region coach of the year and Eubanks was named region wrestler of the year.
In the Region 3-4A tournament at Indian Land High, Catawba Ridge had all 12 wrestlers they brought to the tournament qualify for the 4A Upper State tournament, including getting two region champions. The region tournament was an Upper State qualifying tournament with the top four finishers punching their ticket to the 4A Upper State tournament Feb. 17-18 at Eastside High School.
Catawba Ridge will be sending nearly their entire team minus two weight classes – 106 and 220.
Getting region championships for the Copperheads was Jarrett Eubanks at 160-pounds and Tony Atkins at heavyweight.
Finishing second were Alex Teel (113), Jakob Kees (138), Jackson Rozelle (145) and Sean Barstad (152). Placing third were Joshua Gets (120), Clark Ostendorf (126), Levi Jones (132), Alexander Buxton (170) and Jacob Webster (195). And finishing fourth at 182-pounds was Beau Nicoll to also qualify.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
