CHURCH HILL – At the Region 1-A Wrestling Tournament on Saturday at Volunteer High School 16 local wrestlers continued their season and earned a spot in next week’s sectional tournament, that included all 13 wrestlers from Greeneville.
“Overall, I felt like we wrestled really well today,” Greeneville coach Atlas Fagundes said. “We put seven in the finals, and that’s a good day for anybody. All 13 guys advanced to the sectionals next week, that’s a good day. I’m happy we get to spend another week with those guys, that was our goal coming in.”
Two Greene Devils, Gabriel Oakley (113) and Derick Day (138), captured Region 1-A championships on Saturday.
Oakley finished his day with a first-round pin of David Crockett’s Hunter Meadows in his championship match. Oakley took down Meadows in just 12 seconds and never let him up, building a 7-0 lead before completing the pin in 1:47.
In the semifinals Oakley pinned Noah Lomans of Tennessee High in 1:02.
“I’m super proud of Gabe Oakley. He’s been in the region finals and been on the cusp, but he ran into really good wrestlers. For him to come out as a junior and get that region title was really special to see,” Fagundes said.
Day also had a quick championship match as he took Elizabethton’s Brock Shelby to the mat in 14 seconds and pinned him in 1:07. In the semifinals Day earned a 19-1 technical fall over Austin Osborne from Sullivan East. Day’s day began win a pin of Jayden Britt of Chuckey-Doak in 34 seconds.
“Derrick has been doing great stuff all year and he is getting better and better on his feet,” Fagundes said. “He is doing a good job of getting off the bottom, and his top stuff his getting better. He is starting to finish matches. As those tools develop he becomes more dangerous, and this is a good time to be doing that.”
In total seven Greeneville wrestlers advanced to the region finals on Saturday.
In the 106 lb. championship match Greeneville’ Brylan Rhodes was pinned by Tennessee’s Nick Carroll.
At 150 lbs. Greeneville’s Hunter Shelton advanced to the championship match but fell to Austin Glass of Volunteer in an 8-3 decision.
Greeneville’s Angus Harrell (175) also advanced to the finals on Saturday, but he dropped a 17-6 major decision to Conrad Morales of Cocke County.
Greeneville Hayden Matthews (190) dropped a 19-12 decision to Tennessee’s Dominick Reynolds in his championship bout.
At 215 lbs. Greeneville’s John Chapman was pinned by Anthony Lastra of David Cockett in the second period.
Greeneville’s Gregory Tester (126), Michael Hurst (144), Kaleb Smith (157) and Gideon Ellenburg (165) all earned third place finishes on Saturday. David Hurst (120) and Cameron Sneed (132) both finished in fourth place.
“I felt like we did a really good job of wrestling on our feet today and being attack minded. We scored a lot of points and these guys worked their way through this tournament. But in some spots we were a little timid. Next we have to wrestle to win, and not be afraid of losing. We just have to focus on being offensive next week.”
For West Greene Peyton Hillis (190) earned a third-place finish and Jeffrey Hawk (144) came in fourth place. Both advanced to next week’s sectional tournament.
Chuckey-Doak’s Marcus Britt (165) earned a fourth-place finish and will compete in the sectionals next week.
In the team standings Tennessee High was first with 211 points, Greeneville was second with 203 and David Crockett was third with 179.
