Hurricanes Win Charger Invitational Mat Meet Again

East Hamilton Claims 10 Medalists To Win Easily With 222 Points

Saturday, December 17, 2016
John Hunt

Kashawn Cosey of East Ridge scores a takedown in his 13-3 Major Decision over Tanner Thornton of Grace in the 126-pound championship match in Saturday's Charger Invitational hosted by Chattanooga Christian. East Hamilton scored a repeat as tournament champs, notching 222 points with three individual champs and 10 total medalists.
photo by Dennis Norwood

The East Hamilton Hurricanes won the annual Charger Invitational wrestling tournament for the first time last year and they wanted to prove it wasn’t a fluke, so they came back and won with ease once again on Saturday at Chattanooga Christian School.

The Hurricanes were only afforded six seeds in the 14 weight classes, but they had 10 medalists and totally dominated the 19-team field as they finished the one-day event with 222 points.

The Mt. Zion Eagles, a team from Carrollton, Ga., was the runner-up with 140.5 points while host CCS was third with 121.5. Boyd-Buchanan and Signal Mountain completed the top five teams with 118 and 116.5 points, respectively.

East Hamilton and Boyd-Buchanan both finished with three individual champions while McMinn County, East Ridge and CCS all had two apiece. Mt. Zion and Christian Academy of Knoxville had one each.

The three winners for East Hamilton included Te’Nario Thomas at 106, Conner Thornburg at 113 and Grant Lundy at 138 while Boyd-Buchanan’s trio of winners included Zane Williams at 160, Kell Stott at 195 and Will Watkins at 220.

Gage Boggess (120) and Tyler Varnadore (285) were champs for McMinn while Kashawn Cosey (126) and Darian Smith (182) were the two victors for East Ridge. CCS was represented in the winner’s circle by Justin Wheeler at 152 and Alex Hundley at 170.

Mt. Zion’s champ was Crofford Helton at 145 while Brandon Jarvis was the winner for CAK at 132.

East Hamilton’s Lundy was voted the Outstanding Wrestler after posting a 9-3 decision Mt. Zion’s Cal Helton in the 138-pound finals and is now 27-0 after winning two of his three matches Saturday with pins.

The 152-pound final between Signal Mountain’s Daniel Dawson and Wheeler of CCS was voted Best Match after Wheeler toughed out a 4-2 decision.

East Hamilton coach Ryan Cooper was really pleased for the most part with the way his team performed on Saturday.

“I thought we wrestled well in spots, but we still have a long way to go,” he said shortly after Lundy had claimed his team’s third individual title.

“That was a big-time performance by Grant Lundy as he came back to knock off a state runner-up from last year. That’s a pretty tall order for a sophomore. I was also proud of Conner Thornburg, who beat the kid from Signal Mountain who had beaten him last year.

“And Te’Nario Thomas just keeps rolling along,” he praised his freshman 106 pounder after improving his record to 24-0 for the season.

“I’m always hopeful that we’ll win every tournament that we enter, but I wasn’t very confident with only six seeds for today’s meet. We finished with 10 in the medals, so we did a lot more than everyone else expected,” Cooper added.

While the Hurricanes had three champions, David Bohn was the runner-up at 220 while Liam Golden and Kevin Siniard were both third at 145 and 152, respectively. Tyler Green (160), Tyler Bayless (170), Pierce Peterson (182) and Jackson Moore (285) all claimed fourth for the Hurricanes.

There were nine regular decisions in the championship finals and four major decisions while Boyd-Buchanan’s Watkins had the only pin.

The Buccaneers finished fourth with three champions, but probably would have added another had top-seed Scott Weaver not suffered a severely-dislocated elbow in his semifinal match.

“We had three champions and should have had four, but Weaver got hurt,” said Boyd-Buchanan coach Shane Turner as the tournament was wrapping up.

“I’m really proud of Dominick Coker, who finished fourth at 138. This was his first time to ever medal in a tournament, so it was nice to see him rewarded for his hard work. We didn’t exactly do what we had planned to do as far as our technique was concerned, but we found ways to win and there are times when it just comes down to that,” Turner added.

LEGEND AND FINAL TEAM SCORES: 1. East Hamilton (EH) 222; 2. Mt. Zion (MZ) 140.5; 3. Chattanooga Christian (CCS) 121.5; 4. Boyd-Buchanan (BB) 118; 5. Signal Mountain (SM) 116.5; 6. Harpeth (Har) 111; 7. Whitwell (Whit) 93; 8. East Ridge (ER) and McMinn County (McCo) tied with 87; 10. Knoxville Grace (Grace) 86; 11. Shelbyville (Shel) 85; 12. Christian Academy of Knoxville (CAK) 82; 13. Fulton (Ful) 56; 14. Sequatchie County (Seq) 33; 15. Sale Creek (SC) 22; 16. Tyner (Ty) 16; 17. Warren County (WC) 15; 18. Knoxville Catholic (KC) 9; 19. Brainerd (Brain) 8.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

106 – Te’Nario Thomas (EH) major dec. Ethan Madaris (CCS), 13-1;

113 – Conner Thornburg (EH) dec. Isaac Tate (SM), 3-1;

120 – Gage Boggess (McCo) major dec. Rolando Lucio (Har), 12-2;

126 – Kashawn Cosey (ER) major dec. Tanner Thornton (Grace), 13-4;

132 – Brandon Jarvis (CAK) dec. Garrett Lay (Grace), 8-4;

138 – Grant Lundy (EH) dec. Cal Helton (MZ), 9-3;

145 – Crofford Helton (MZ) dec. Haustin Parsons (Shel), 15-10;

152 – Justin Wheeler (CCS) dec. Daniel Dawson (SM), 4-2;

160 – Zane Williams (BB) dec. Elijay Davis (Ful), 6-3;

170 – Alex Hundley (CCS) dec. Cole Helton (MZ), 1-0;

182 – Darian Smith (ER) major dec. Horman Tanner (CAK), 14-3;