SOUTHERN PINES -- The Greater Neuse River 4A Conference will send 12 wrestlers to next weekend’s state championships in Greensboro after a solid collective performance at the Class 4-A East Regionals Friday and Saturday at Pinecrest High School.
Clayton led the conference schools with four selections – seniors Luke Ludke at 132 pounds, Jarel Orr at 145, Jacquan Ethridge at 152 and Russell Thrasher at 170. Ludke earned individual weight class championships. It was his third regional crown in four years.
The Comets finished fifth overall as a team with 84.5 points, their highest finish ever in a regional tournament. The quartet of Ludke, Orr, Ethridge and Thrasher is the most state qualifiers Clayton has ever had, eclipsing the previous mark of three (Ludke, Shane Johnson and Oran Rose) in 2009-10. Ludke will be making his fourth state championship appearance, Orr will return for a second showing and Etheridge and Thrasher will be going to Greensboro for the first time. Orr, Ethridge and Thrasher al finished second in their weight classes on Saturday.
West Johnston finished tied for seventh with Cape Fear as each squad tallied 72 points. Pinecrest won the regional with 176 points, followed by Jack Britt (155.5), New Bern (116) and South View (109). Southeast Raleigh (49) and East Wake (44.5) were 14th and 15th, respectively. SSS was 18th (32 points), Knightdale was 21st (20 points) and Garner was 22nd (18 points).
Ludke (45-3) tech-falled Greenville Rose’s Toi Smith (7-14) in the first round and did the same to Hoggard’s Daniel Wilson in the quarterfinals. After a 9-2 win over Cory Wagner of Laney (Wagner eliminated Ludke from last year’s state tourney), Ludke pinned Purnell Swett’s Robert Council at 1:01 to capture his regional crown.
Orr (39-9) pinned Hoke County’s Devonte McClean at 2:00 in the first round, decisioned Ian McAllister of Harnett Central 12-2 in the quarters and pinned New Bern’s Maxwell Stout at 1:53 to reach the finals, where he fell by pin at 3:55 to Aaron Dickson of Jack Britt.
Ethridge (43-9) opened his bracket with a tech fall over Greyson Vann of Terry Sanford in the first round, then slipped past Pine Forest’s Mike Shelton 2-1 and defeated Southeast Raleigh’s St. Phard 6-1 to make the finals, where he fell 6-0 to Pinecrest’s Dustin Roemer (47-0).
Casper (28-7) tech falled Jack Britt’s Equel Easterling and pinned Conley at 1:52 before falling to Scotland County’s Adrian Soto-Perez by pin at 3:59 in the semifinals. Casper then ended Aaron Roper (West Johnston)’s state dream with a 10-0 win in the consolation semis.
Dhamra defeated Dylan Wheeler of Clayton by forfeit (Wheeler came in overweight) and then decisioned Laney’s Cole Plott 10-3. After a pinfall loss at 4:46 to Jack Britt’s Cory Maxwell, Dhamra decisioned Afiz Lateef of Scotland County 7-1 and Malik Harris of Greenville Rose 13-6 to finish third.
Austin Smith, East Wake’s third representative for the state meet, pinned Clayton’s Eric Cruz at 0:44, decisioned Zach Rhodes of SSS 4-3 and fell 4-3 to Luke Fetla of Pinecrest. Once in the consolations, Smith decisioned Sam Campbell of West Johnston 12-0 and settled for fourth.
The conference nearly had seven other wrestlers qualify for states. In addition to Roper, West Johnston had Seth Thomas at 120, Keith Neal at 170, Zack Lychalk at 182 and Sam Campbell at 220 barely miss, while Garner’s James Box at 113, SSS’s Zach Rhodes at 220 and Southeast Raleigh’s Mack missed next weekend by one victory.
