Wildcats make most of format

CORINTH-HOLDERS -- As a general rule, it's the emotional reviews by an athlete that has participated in a sporting event, which are generally mixed. Not the event itself.

However, that was the case Saturday afternoon in the third annual Hite Association Johnston County Individual Wrestling Tournament.

The reviews of the tournament weren't really mixed, as was the tournament itself - consisting of a blend of a bracketed format and a round-robin competition each weight class.

When the smoke had cleared, West Johnston had successfully defended its team title, claiming five individual champions and 197 points - far ahead of runner-up host Corinth Holders, which had two champions and 126 points. Cleveland finished third with 108 points and three champions, while North Johnston claimed fourth overall with 85 points and two individual winners.

Smithfield-Selma, the only team without a tournament champion, was fifth with 76.5 points while Princeton (64 points) and South Johnston (34) took home one champion each. Clayton did not participate in the event.

West winning its third straight team title wasn't the story - the dual-formats that were utilized was. Due to attrition of wrestlers throughout the season, and missing one school from what should have been an eight-team field, tournament organizers put together what they felt would be the most competitive, and hopefully, best tournament together for each respective weight class.

Eight of the divisions were determined through a round-robin format, meaning all of the wrestlers in their designated class would wrestle a bout against each other, with the champion determined by the best overall record in the event. In order for a round robin to be drawn up, the weight class had to have three-to-five wrestlers competing at that weight.

Six weights were assembled into the traditional line-bracketed, double elimination - one loss relegated you to the losers bracket, leaving winners to wrestle for the titles, while losers battled for third place.

Storm Stevens, named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler, led the quintet of champions for West, and was one of four Wildcats to earn their way to the title via the round robin.

Ranked second in the 285-pound weight class among 4A schools, Stevens rolled to a 4-0 record, culminating his day by stopping Smithfield-Selma's Isaiah Davis in the final bout of the day for that weight. Stevens and Davis battled on even terms through the first two periods, before Stevens began exerting his dominance en route to the victory.

"That was the first time I had faced him all year," Stevens said. "He was big, and he pretty good athlete for his size - plus, he knew a little."

Stevens wasn't too concerned about the type of tournament he wrestled - just that he wrestled and did his best. "I just wrestle," he said. "I like round-robin because you get to wrestle more matches than in a regular bracket. In brackets, you get two or three matches if you are winning - in round robin, you can get up to four."

Cleveland's Holden Bohanno posted a 3-0 worksheet en route to the 220-pound round robin title. Chance Wallace, another Cleveland wrestler who took his title through the round robins, posting a 3-0 mark on the afternoon, wasn't worried about what type of tournament his weight was in. He "just wanted to improve over last season."

Wallace, who upped his record to 31-6, admitted that he "Had a better feel for wrestling this season than I had a year ago, and worked my shots."

Cleveland's Dakota Hill, defeated Corinth Holder's Cameron Brewer for the fourth time this season to take the 126-pound title.

Unfortunately for Ever Reyes of Smithfield-Selma, losing early, then coming back to win out, didn't give him a title - instead, the 113-pounder settled for third after finishing in a three-way tie for first with Dustin Brennan of Corinth Holders and Derrick Applewhite of Cleveland.

Brennan, who defeated Applewhite, took the title over Applewhite in a criteria decision. Applewhite, who had defeated Reyes, had a pair of pins in his afternoon of competition, as did Brennan, while Reyes only had one. Coaches and tournament officials reviewed the outcomes of Applewhite's and Brennan's matches, to determine Brennan the winner. Because of the three-way tie, when Reyes was eliminated, the head-to-head meeting between Applewhite and Brennan was thrown out.

"This is my first gold medal," Brennan said. I've been wrestling since the eighth grade, and all my other tournaments, the best I have gotten is second place."

West's Grant Walker picked up the 138-pound title with a 4-0 worksheet, while Aaron Roper of West picked up the 160-pound championsship. The Wildcats' Keith Neal completed the round-robin champions.

Darius Dunn of Corinth Holders picked up the first title of the day, edging Tony Jimenez of West with a takedown in the finals five seconds to win 8-6 in the finals of their 106-pound bracket.

"He was difficult," Dunn said. "I'm not going to brag about it - he's beaten me before, and I've beaten him - that's all I'm going to say about it."

Dyllan Creech earned North's first win of the day, with a major decision over Seth Thomas of West at 120 pounds.

"I got up early on him, and almost pinned him twice," Creech said. "I think I wrestled well - my first match wasn't too hard - this was a much tougher match."

George Nathaniel, who endured a winless season in 2010-2011, defeated North's Daniel Reyes 9-2 to claim the 145-pound championship.

"It took me a long time to get here," Nathaniel said. "But I'm finally here. I didn't win any matches last year, so this is a big surprise for me."

North's James Napier who extended his unbeaten record to 38-0 this season in winning the 152-pound championship, said he didn't feel any pressure on his back, despite being ranked No. 1 among 2A wrestlers at his weight.

"I'm going at it like I'm the one going to give everyone my best shot, instead of them giving me their best shot," Napier said. "I use hard conditioning and practice - I treat every match the same - go after it as hard as I can.

"If I make a mistake, or if someone else can take me down or hold me down for a period, then I feel like its talent that we both have - I welcome the challenge."

South Johnston's Justin Mim grabbed the 132 pound championship.

Princeton's Forrest Stewart, like Napier a repeat champion, echoed the sentiment, but preferred line-bracketing style tournament better.

"I have a little more weight on me this year, but this feels the same as last year," Stewart, ranked second among 1A wrestlers at 182 pounds. "I go out and do what I have to do to win - I know the re were guys who wrestled round robin, but I would rather wrestle the bracket style.

"I guess that's the hardest part between the two - In brackets, you get to relax, take a break and get ready for your next match. In round-robins, instead of getting rested or getting pumped for a later match - you have to be ready to be called at any minute."