Injury halts wrestler Olmedo’s streak

Published 9:49 am Thursday, December 13, 2018

A special career might be cut short. Anthony Olmedo, a senior wrestler for Davie, suffered a shoulder injury in the Southern Slam Invitational on Dec. 1 – the same shoulder he had surgery on in the offseason.

In the Slam, Olmedo pinned his first two opponents. Then came the injury, a pin by the enemy and Olmedo’s first loss of the year. He had to drop out, resulting in two losses by injury default.

His season record is 4-3. It’s a bummer that his season record might end up 4-3. Olmedo was on an incredible run. He had 139 victories through his junior year. Only one other War Eagle had more wins going into his senior year, and that was Michael Waters with 148 in 2010.

Eight War Eagles have reached 150 career wins, and A. Olmedo was sure to become the ninth … before the injury.

Waters is No. 1 with a career record of 203-21 from 2007-11. The others: Aaron Hollifield (182-30 from 2002-06), Russell Hilton (181-32 from 2002-06), Hunter Smith (179-46 from 2013-17), Alex Gobble (159-36 from 2010-14), Ryan Smith (158-43 from 2010-13), Zack Vernon (157-34 from 2007-10) and Patrick Lowery (150-16 from 1998-02). Lake Billings is No. 9 on the list at 148-72 from 2011-15.

A. Olmedo was 10th in career wins (143-32) with a ton of matches to go. Both twins would be much higher on the list if it weren’t for injuries; Jesus Olmedo missed his entire junior year with a shoulder injury.

“Anthony can’t get an MRI until Jan. 14,” coach Buddy Lowery said. “He said he hurt it at the very beginning of the match. It was freakish.”

Normally, the loss of someone the caliber of A. Olmedo would be a crippling blow. Fortunately, Davie was loaded at heavyweight. Senior Andy Flores will do just fine. He went 30-14 as a junior and he’s 6-1 this year.

•••

As expected, the War Eagles overwhelmed the field at the North Lincoln Duals on Dec. 7. They went 4-0 to boost their record to 8-1 – the sixth straight year they have started 8-1 or 9-0.

The scores: 77-0 over Bessemer City, 51-18 over N. Lincoln, 62-12 over North Gaston and 54-24 over West Rowan.

Lowery watched masterful, 4-0 performances from no less than eight War Eagles, including Cody Taylor (106 weight class), JT Richards (113), Adam Szewczyk (120), Bill Trader (126), Collin Bailey (138), Isaac Webb (152/160), J. Olmedo (220) and Flores (285).

Josh Chaffin (132) and Matthew King (182/195) went 3-1. Richards, Bailey, Chaffin and King were the pin leaders with three each. Webb, J. Olmedo and Flores had two apiece.

Sam Collins went 2-2 at 145/152. Sawyer Sheets (160) and Tyris Griffin (170) chipped in one win each. Jack Jarvis (145) had a forfeit win but sat out the other matches with hurt ribs.

Facing inferior competition, there really wasn’t much to take away from this meet. “It was OK,” Lowery said. “Most got four matches and we got home at 11:45 (p.m.).”

For the season, J. Olmedo is a spotless 17-0. Among the top winners are Richards (16-2), Taylor (14-2), Bailey (13-2), King (13-5), Chaffin (12-3), Webb (12-4), Szewczyk (11-3), Jarvis (11-7) and Trader (10-3).