Kennesaw Mountain put up an impressive performance at the Area 5-AAAAA traditional wrestling tournament at McEachern on Saturday, but it was not enough to give them their second consecutive title as they lost to East Paulding by just five points, 203-198. Despite coming in second, the Mustangs had four area champions, the most in the program’s 10-year history, with Jonathan Herrera (125), Ryan Maus (135), Jonatan Rivera (152), and Rashaud Moore (215) all taking home first-place honors. All four of the Mustangs’ champions from Saturday qualified for next week’s state sectional at Tift County High School, in addition to Chris Murdock (119), Allen Logan (130), and Alex Bremner (145).
Three other Cobb County schools crowned champions as well on Saturday with McEachern’s E.J. Sheppard (103) and Jeremy Wester (171) winning, while North Cobb’s Tony Sotres (189) and Harrison’s Spencer Rickman (112) took home first-place finishes as well.
Etowah (175 points), with three champions, took third behind Kennesaw Mountain and East Paulding, followed by McEachern (168.5), North Cobb (153), Harrison (143), Cherokee (135.5), Marietta (120.5), South Cobb (36) and Woodstock (33).
Meanwhile, in the 6-AAAAA traditional tournament, Pope looked strong, taking first place over Milton 249.5-154 while sending 12 to the finals. The Greyhounds crowned six champions at the event, including Tommy Nickles (112), Ben Winiarczyk (135), Patrick Anthony (140), Phillip Montgomery (152), Charlie Farr (215), and Hudson Power (160).
Kell, which had only one champion, Michael Abraham (189) finished in third with 128 points, with Lassiter just one point behind in fourth at 127.
HOOPS NEWS …
In basketball, with the regular season quickly coming to a close, teams are starting to focus on their playoff hopes. McEachern, undefeated in region play since 2008, narrowly claimed victories over Harrison, Woodstock and South Cobb this week. The Indians will face off against East Paulding and Etowah this week to finish off their regular season.
Despite losing to McEachern last week, Harrison took home a big 76-71 win over Woodstock on Friday, to help them keep pace in the Region 5-AAAAA standings. Ryan Blumenthal led the Hoyas with 26 points, including five three-pointers, with Julian Lavender adding 16 and Subby Adetujoye finishing up with 20.
In Region 7-AAAA, Allatoona (16-7, 9-4) had a rough week, losing three of four games to fall into a tie for third in the region with Sprayberry and Dalton. The Buccaneerss latest loss was a 56-50 defeat at the hands of Sequoyah on Saturday. Dimychael Ross led the Bucs’ offense with 14 points, with Wahab Osensi contributing 13.
In the polls this week, Wheeler leads Cobb County schools in 5-AAAAA with a fourth- place ranking, with McEachern sitting in seventh while Hillgrove is currently ranked ninth in class 4-AAAA.
On the girls side, North Cobb, McEachern and Campbell are back-to-back-to-back in the polls at seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.
No. 7-ranked North Cobb appears ready for playoff action, adding two more wins last week, including a 58-38 victory against Cherokee on Tuesday. Kira Gordon was impressive for the Lady Warriors, accumulating 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Jarae Savage added 12 of her own. Three nights later, the Lady Warriors notched another win, improving to 20-3 on the season by defeating Kennesaw Mountain 50-40. This time Savage contributed 14 points, with Amber Reeves and Maggie Trimble adding nine each. North Cobb will face Harrison this Friday to complete its regular season.
McEachern will conclude its regular season this week as well with a game against Etowah on Friday, while Campbell is set to face Milton that same day.
SWIMMING STATE FINALS …
Looking ahead, the swimming and diving state championships were already underway at press time, and Lassiter is battling for its second consecutive state championship. The Lady Trojans will rely on their All-American 400 freestyle relay team, as well as swimmers Sammy Bosma, Kim Carducci, Sarah Williford and Shannon O’Malley, all of whom performed well at the recent Cobb County Championships.
Walton appears strong and confident heading to the championships as well. The team, which placed third at state last season, not only recently placed second behind Lassiter at the Cobb County Championships, but is also home to Erin Reisinger, the 2009 state champion in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke, as well as a member of the title-winning 200 freestyle relay team.
For the men, Walton is coming off its win at the Cobb County Championships last week, while Lassiter, which finished right behind the Lady Raiders in second, should also contend at the state championships. Lassiter led throughout much of the County Championships, but a disqualification in the 400 freestyle relay cost them, allowing Walton to earn the top finish. Last season, Walton tied for 11th at the state meet, while Lassiter took home 14th.
Wade can be reached at kwade@scoreatl.com.
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