NEWBERRY — Several Wolves’ wrestlers competed at the Newberry Open inside Eleazer Arena on Saturday afternoon, headlined by a first-place finish by Zach Clary.

The Wolves’ sophomore won all three of his matches on the day and finished in first place out of nine entrants in the 133-pound division. He began his day with a fall over Southeastern’s Dominic Gibson in 1:41. In the semifinals match, Clary went up against Eddie Barrett of Southeastern and took him by fall in 4:31. With a chance to capture the first place title, Clary edged his North Carolina State opponent 6-3.

Louis Wilson provided another highlight for Newberry with a second-place finish at 174 pounds. Wilson picked up a 6-5 decision win over Kavoris Perry of St. Andrew, and continued his streak with a 3-1 victory over Cumberland’s Brett Clark. In the first place match, it came down to penalty calls that would give Lindsey Wilson’s Cole Overman the advantage and the win.

Competing in his first match since the Tracy Borah Duals, Timmy Martinez saw two wins in the first two rounds of the 149 lbs. bracket. He would earn a win by fall against Southeastern’s Claduest Sherman in 3:36, and a 5-3 decision over Esteban Remillard of Cumberland. Martinez dropped the semifinal match in a 8-5 decision over his Lindsey Wilson opponent. His day would end via an injury, to give him the fourth-place honor.

Anthony Carter also made the most of his first opportunity to wrestle this season by finishing in fourth place in the 125-pound bracket. In the match-up against Alessandro Araujo of Queens, Carter tallied four takedowns and two reversals to capture the 13-6 win. Limestone’s James Sass had a strong showing in the first period, that would eventually cost Carter the match. With the chance to secure the third-place honor, he went up against North Carolina State’s Trevor Edwards. Edward’s would win the match by fall just seconds shy of five minutes.

With a bye in the first round, Tyler Wicken dropped by fall against AJ Leitten of North Carolina State in a little over two minutes. He would redeem himself with two consecutive major decision wins over Lukas Twardosky of Southeastern and Phillip Ruiz of Limestone. With the wins, Wicken secured himself the fifth-place spot.

Following in his teammates’ footsteps, Dylan Eaton also found himself with the fifth-place finish at 184 lbs. He started out his day with a 20-8 major decision loss to Kohl Dodd of Lindsey Wilson. Eaton fought back to secure a win by fall over Malik Drayton of Spartanburg Methodist, and an annihilation 18-1 tech fall over Robert Hardin of Brewton Parker.

Michael Land finished out the success for the Wolves today, with a sixth-place finish at 133-lbs. After falling by tech fall in his opening match up, Land earned a 7-1 decision to advance to the fifth-place match where he was bested by Southeastern’s Dominic Gibson.

Zach Clary went 3-0 to earn the first-place title.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Wrestling-NC.jpgZach Clary went 3-0 to earn the first-place title. Courtesy photo

Staff Report