Bradley Wrestlers Win Region 4-AAA With 7 Champions

Soddy Daisy, Cleveland, Walker Valley Follow In Eight-Team Field

  • Saturday, February 13, 2016
  • John Hunt

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – There was never much doubt about which team would walk away from the Region 4-AAA wrestling tournament with the most individual champs and the overall team title.

The Bradley Bears, ranked second in the state all year, have had a great season to this point and it just got a little bit better early Saturday evening at Cleveland Middle School.

By claiming seven individual titles and qualifying 13 of 14 individuals for next week’s traditional state tournament, the Bears were never seriously challenged as they rolled to the team title with 233.5 points.

The Soddy Daisy Trojans, who finished second to the Bears at last weekend’s State Duals, finished second again this weekend  as they claimed three individual winners while advancing a dozen to next week’s tussle at the Williamson County Agricultural Exposition Park in Franklin.

The Cleveland Blue Raiders, who finished second to Bradley at the region last year before winning the state for the third straight year, was third with 126 points.  Cleveland earned two titles while sending eight to next weekend’s event.

Walker Valley and East Hamilton rounded out the top five teams with 105 and 101.5 points, respectively.

Bradley’s Knox Fuller was the champ at 138 while Soddy Daisy’s Tucker Russo won at 160 and were honored as the Outstanding Wrestlers for the lower and upper weights, respectively.

Bradley’s other six winners included T.J.

Hicks at 113, Ryan McElhaney at 120, Austin Mathews at 145, Donnie Beyer at 152, Brett Brown at 195 and D.J. Adams at 285 while Soddy Daisy’s other champions included Landon Wheaton at 106 and Ty Boeck at 182.

The remaining individual champs included Cleveland’s duo of Triston Blansit at 126 and Jack Hicks at 170, Walker Valley’s Joseph Munoz at 132 and Ooltewah’s Victor Bednarski at 220.

“The competition is always tough in this region as we’ve dominated the state in recent years, but we had an overall good team effort today,” said Bradley coach Ben Smith after the final match ended.

“We just tried to fine tune and stay healthy this week and to be relaxed because we seem to wrestle better when we’re relaxed.  We faced some of the toughest kids in the state here today, but I just wanted to see strong effort and good fight.

“We had three young men wrestle above their seeds and we won nine of 13 in that last round, so I’m pretty happy,” Smith said.

Soddy Daisy coach Jim Higgins was booted from the gym after getting two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties during  the 138-pound championship and he was still somewhat upset when all the wrestling had concluded.

“I really thought we were capable of qualifying all 14 individuals, but we made some mistakes in those other weights that ultimately cost us.  I’m overall happy for those 12 who advanced, but I really expected us to be better today.  We had a few who didn’t wrestle well at the start,” Higgins suggested.

Brad Laxton, a Soddy Daisy assistant coach, had similar thoughts.

“I thought our guys fought hard for every second, but we always want to do just a little bit better.  Guys like Tucker Russo bring the others up to another level and I can never say enough good things about him,” Laxton concluded with a smile.

Bradley and Soddy Daisy led the qualifying with 13 and 12, respectively, and Cleveland advanced eight.

East Hamilton didn’t have any finalists, but they had nine winners in the consolation finals to finish on a strong note.  Walker Valley has seven qualifiers while Ooltewah will be sending five and Rhea County two.

 LEGEND AND FINAL TEAM SCORES: 1. Bradley (Brad) 233.5; 2. Soddy Daisy (SD) 168; 3. Cleveland (Cle) 126; 4. Walker Valley (WV) 105; 5. East Hamilton (EH) 101.5; 6. Ooltewah (O) 82; 7. Rhea County (RC) 30; 8. McMinn County (MC) 0.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

106 – Landon Wheaton (SD) pinned Bryce Pond (Cle), 2:39;

113 – T.J. Hicks (Brad) pinned Chase Payne (SD), 3:33;

120 – Ryan McElhaney (Brad) dec. Logan Whiteside (Cle), 4-0;

126 – Triston Blansit (Cle) dec. Joshua LaCoe (Brad), 12-5;

132 – Joseph Munoz (WV) dec. Colton Landers (Cle), 6-5;

138 – Knox Fuller (Brad) dec. Emory Holcomb (SD), 8-1;

145 – Austin Mathews (Brad) dec. Jordan Massengill (O), 3-1;

152 – Donnie Beyer (Brad) dec. Mikel Gregory (WV), 8-4;

160 – Tucker Russo (SD) major dec. Jordan Chafi (O), 18-8;

170 – Jack Hicks (Cle) major dec. Ed Elkins (Brad), 12-3;

182 – Ty Boeck (SD) pinned Jaylon Martin (WV), 3:18;

195 – Brett Brown (Brad) dec. Tyler Reid (O), 5-0;

220 – Victor Bednarski (O) dec. D.J. Gibson (Brad), 8-2;

285 – D.J. Adams (Brad) pinned Trace McNew (SD), 1:05.

 

CONSOLATION FINALS FOR THIRD PLACE

106 – Chandler Davis (WV) major dec. Bryson Bishop (Brad), 12-2;

113 – Cade Meeks (EH) pinned Gatapun Jur (WV), 4:23;

120 – Briar Potter (EH) pinned Jacob Kilgore (SD), 2:36;

126 – Grant Lundy (EH) dec. Zane Smith (WV), 12-8;

132 – Hunter Parker (Brad) won by technical fall over Tony Wilson (SD), 4:48;

138 – Matt Meeks (EH) pinned Cody Matthews (Cle), 3:35;

145 – Austin Sweeney (Cle) dec. Conner Stiles (SD), 7-4;

152 – Jay Graham (RC) dec. Andrew Sturdivant (EH), 4-2;

160 – Henley Headrick (Brad) dec. Greg Wilson (Cle), 6-3;

170 – Kirby Sailors (EH) dec. Chase Rogers (SD), 6-4;

182 – Nick Lett (O) pinned Kevin Siniard (EH), 2:46;

195 – Dylan Aslinger (SD) dec. Huichan Yun (EH), 10-4;

220 – Dakota Ables (SD) dec. Garret Smith (RC), 10-8 in overtime;

285 – C.J. Schwark (WV) pinned Blake Cason (EH), :51.

 

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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