DUANE SHERRILLEditor

There will be a half dozen Wildcats heading to the state championships this coming weekend after they won their way there by strong showings at the Sectional tournament this past week.

Cody Agnell clawed his way into the state by getting a third place finish in the 138-pound division. He began his trek with a pinfall over Cayden Hutcherson of White House at the 3:34 mark but was then derailed by Brady McLemore of Eagleville by a tight 5-3 decision. He got back in the fight with a fall at 4;57 over JT McClinchey of Greenbrier and then won the third place match over Luke Athoe of Green Hill via a narrow 2-1 decision.

Caleb Adkins not only won his way into the state but he also won his class at Sectionals. He began his dominance of the 145-pound class by winning a close 10-7 decision over Alex Taylor of White House Heritage. He then topped Sean Walton via 7-6 decision before winning the championship match by 3-2 decision over Hayden Cooper of White House.

Connor Avans also made it to the top of the podium winning his class. He took his quarterfinal match over Austin Street of Livingston Academy with a lightning 23 second fall. He then continued racing through the 182-pound division winning his semi over Ethan Ward of Page with a fall at 1:41. Then then claimed gold by topping Hayden Dowell of Cascade by fall at 3:15.

Jerzy Hendrix made it to state by taking third in his class. He won his 160-pound quarterfinal over Jordan Geist of Livingston Academy at 5:04 but fell in the semis to Andrew Berkon of Green Hill via 6-4 decision. He rebounded with a 16-7 major decision over Brayden Crouch of White House and then punched his ticket to state with a 6-4 decision over Cole Darnell of Eagleville.

Eric Barragan took fourth in his class and started out with a win over Zachary Plotts of Watertown via an 11-7 decision. He fell in the semis to Seth McCoy of Forest by fall at 1:29 but came back to defeat Nathan Highland of Spring Hill via 11-4 decision. He fell to Brooks Garner of Page in the third place match 3-2.

Robert Tatum brought second place home in the heavyweight division beginning with pinfall at 1:36 over Richard Howe of Alvin C. York. He then went on in the 285-pound division to win his sem over Dylan Warren of Cascade at 3:29 before falling in the finals at the 45 second mark to Ronan O’Connell of Page.

In other action:

Sayvion Surles rebounded from a quarterfinal loss to Will Carter of Greenbrier at 45 seconds of the round by beating John Newell of Page at 1:11 He was stopped in the consolation by Joshua Bennett of Cornersville by fall at 47 seconds.

Justin Frank also rebounded after losing his first round match at the 113-pound class via fall at 5:35 by beating Issac Long of East Robertson at 1:38. However, he was stopped in the consolation by Cosmo O’Neal of Page via 5-3 decision.

Like Surles and Frank, Nolan Stroop at 126-pounds lost his opening match. He was beaten by Kashis Redd of Watertown via fall at 3:07. However, he rebounded to beat Keith Lundsford of White House Heritage by fall at 4:06. He was stopped by Drake Rzemieniewski of Eagleville via pin at 3:53 of the consolation match.

Matthew Swiger was also downed in his opening bout, falling to John Geist of Livingston Academy by pinfall at 2:33 in the 195-pound division. He came back with a win over Brice McKenzie of Liberty Creek by fall at 1:18 but was then eliminated by Kyle Kowalski of Page via 3-2 decision.