By David Rogers. MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Two Watauga High School wrestlers advanced to the North Carolina State Tournament, to be held Feb. 15-17, at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex Fieldhouse. Eight Pioneers qualified to compete in the NCHSAA 4A West Regionals.
In the Regionals’ 165 lb. weight class, No. 3 seeded Palmer Smith advanced to the semifinals with two consecutive falls, but lost by fall in the semifinals match to T C Roberson’s Connor Reese, placing No. 3 for the tournament. The top four in each weight class qualify for the state championship tournament.
To get to the quarterfinals, Smith pinned Matthew O’Dell of Marvin Ridge in Round 1 and Marlon Castro of Mooresville Senior in Round 2. Creed Casner had a little easier route to the semis at 120lbs. , receiving a bye in the first round before losing to LaShaun Going of South Caldwell in the quarterfinals.
Although the No. 3 seeded Casner lost in the quarterfinals to Going, he took a 6-0 decision in the third place match vs. Mooresville Senior’s Landon Neith, the No. 5 seed.
Other Watauga entries:
- 106 lbs. – Bryan Chen lost in Round 1 to South Mecklenburg’s Blake Dover, which relegated the Watauga sophomore to the Consolation bracket, where he lost in the first round to East Mecklenburg’s Edward Mayers.
- 113 lbs. – Liam Perry lost in Round 1 of the Championship bracket to Ian Whitt of Ardrey Kell, 2-1. In the Consolation bracket, he defeated Lake Norman’s Cooper Mathon in a major decision, 13-0; then by technical fall over Lucas Messer of Hopewell; before losing to Olympic’s Cameron Massey, 10-5.
- 126 lbs. – no Watauga entry
- 132 lbs. – no Watauga entry
- 138 lbs. – Ryder Sullivan dispatched Providence’s Lucas Otero by fall in the first round, then lost by fall to McDowell’s Rylan Patterson. In the Consolation bracket, he lost to Mallard Creek’s Isaac Marez, 7-2.
- 144 lbs. – Lucas Bishop lost his first round match to eventual champion Austin Emmert of Mooresville Senior by fall, then dropped his first round consolation match to South Caldwell’s Mason Hollar.
- 150 lbs. – no Watauga entry
- 157 lbs. – no Watauga entry
- 175 lbs. – no Watauga entry
- 190 lbs. – Watauga sophomore Mikey Portante battled fiercely in his first round match, but lost, 15-10, to eventual quarterfinalist, Logan Shoemaker of Alexander Central. He then lost his first round of the Consolation bracket by fall to James Davis, a Charlotte Catholic senior.
- 215 lbs. – no Watauga entry
- 285 lbs. – Watauga’s Eli Greene pinned his Round 1 opponent, Kearon Redfeam of Myers Park, then was outpointed in Round 2 by Charlotte Catholic sophomore Dominic Basrawala, 5-2. Dropped to the Consolation bracket, he was pinned by McDowell’s Edward Cervantes.
