Wrestling third in tourney

Published 3:01 pm Thursday, January 7, 2016

Coming away with conference, regional or state championships may be asking a bit much for this year’s Davie wrestling team, but give the War Eagles their due: They’re having a pretty good season.

They have a dual-team record of 22-2. They finished first out of 10 teams in the War Eagle Invitational on Nov. 21. They finished fifth out of 46 in the Southern Slam on Dec. 5. They finished third out of 11 in the Tab Thacker Memorial on Dec. 23.

And in the Holy Angels Invitational at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte on Jan. 1-2, the War Eagles took third out of 66 teams. The tournament played out on 10 mats, and 14 Davie wrestlers combined for 32 wins against 25 losses.

Morehead was first with 195 points. Piedmont had 176 to Davie’s 156.5. The rest of the top 10: Smith 155, Southwestern Randolph 152, Kellam (Va.) 141, Ragsdale 134.5, Hunter Huss 130.5, Central Cabarrus 130 and A.L. Brown 127.

“We wrestled hard,” coach Buddy Lowery said. “You’re never really satisfied, but I was halfway satisfied. They can’t say we’re not trying to wrestle good people.”

Senior Isaiah Olmedo continued to torment opponents at 182, going 5-0 to win the weight class and reach 100 career wins. He reached the finals with two pins, a major decision and a minor decision. Awaiting Olmedo in the championship match was a 27-1 Raymond Rodriguez of R-S Central. Olmedo dealt him his second loss with an 8-5 decision. The sweep lifted Olmedo’s season record to 38-1 and his career mark to 100-32.

“He’s pretty solid all around,” Lowery said of Olmedo.

Junior Hunter Smith showed his prowess at 113 by pinning four straight opponents. He encountered a major test in the finals, facing an undefeated Esco Walker of Hopewell. Walker was too much, beating Smith 14-2. Still, it was an impressive 4-1 showing for Smith, who is 37-3 on the year.

“He wrestled real well,” Lowery said. “He’s a good wrestler. In the finals, he just didn’t wrestle well. That guy is ranked No. 1 in the state, and I guess he’s ranked No. 1 for a reason.”

Davie got 3-2 efforts from sophomore Josh Shore (106), junior Tommy Trader (126), junior Will Allen (132), sophomore Thad Vandiver (138) and freshman Anthony Olmedo (285). Going 2-2 were sophomore Crayton Wise (152), senior Nolan Osborne (160) and freshman Jesus Olmedo (220).

Notes: Sidelined since Dec. 17, J. Olmedo returned from injury after missing nine dual-team matches and the Tab Thacker. … Besides I. Olmedo and Smith, Davie’s top records include Isaiah Whitley at 29-8, A. Olmedo 29-11, Trader 29-13, Shore 28-12, Kyle McCune 26-14, Wise 24-12, Allen 21-10, J. Olmedo 20-7, Vandiver 20-11 and Jesse Carter 19-9.

Junior Varsity

Davie’s junior varsity impressed once again, going 5-0 in a 10-team tournament at Rock Hill (S.C.) on Jan. 2.

Davie won the first four matches comfortably, the scores being 51-27, 68-18, 42-29 and 54-27. The championship match against Rock Hill was a serious battle, and Davie prevailed 39-34 thanks to freshman Peyton Sherrill’s go-ahead pin in the final weight class.