13 Vikings crowned champs at wrestling tournaments
Union Pines Viking Wrestling sent three teams to three different tournaments on Saturday. Between the three teams, the Vikings came off the mat with 13 champions.
The lady Viking girls’ team competed in its first tournament of the season in this the first official year of NCHSAA sanctioned girls wrestling in NC. Four lady Vikings traveled to Green Hope High School to wrestle in the Jim Key Invitational. Two Vikings came out champions and a 4th place overall team finish.
Lily Blair
Gabriella Bumgardner won the championship in the 120 lbs weight class. Bumgardner competed on the men’s team all last season. Lily Blair was crowned champions in the 126 lbs weight class. Blair gained her experience by competing in a full season of state sanctioned HS girls wrestling in TN. Allana Bloniasz and Abigail Pursley, both much newer to the sport but working hard and learning their way on the mat, also competed Saturday.
Gabriella Bumgardner
The Union Pines men’s team used the NCHSAA split squad provision. The Vikings sent wrestlers to two different varsity tournaments, and both teams won the tournaments. 12 Vikings traveled to Asheboro to compete in the Cold Turkey Invitational. The two teams combined waled away with 11 champions, 24 top four placements. All but one wrestler won at least one match by fall.
At the Cold Turkey Invitational, the team finished 1st with 173 points. Asheboro was second with 153 and Southwestern Randolph third with 133. Winning their brackets were Nathan Maness at 106 lbs, Tripp Sullivan at 157 lbs, Brock Sullivan at 175 lbs, and Dantrell Williams at 215 lbs. Tournament runner-ups with weight classes were Aidan Enright, 113; Sam Fairel, 165; and Denton Orr, 190. Alex Soukup at 132 lbs, and Tristan Payne at 138 lbs finished in third place. Payne had the fastest pin, :16, in the entire tournament.
15 Viking men wrestlers traveled to Green Hope to compete at the Jim Key Boys Invitational Tournament. The top three teams were Union Pines w/ 277, Green Hope w/ 128, and Central Davidson w/ 123. The Vikings won half of the 14 weight classes with champions as follows: Joe Lloyd at 126 lbs., Keaton Crawford at 132 lbs., Logan Mitchell at 138 lbs., Evan Thompson at 144 lbs., Finn McCafferty at 150 lbs., Dominic Blue at 165 lbs., and Nick Mascolino at 190 lbs. Finishing in second were Liam Myles, 106 lbs; Caiden McDermott, 113 lbs: Houston Leeah, 157 lbs; Elijah Bumgardner, 132 lbs, and Chayden Hardy, 215 lbs. Lucian Martin at 120 lbs and Wyatt Gayheart at 285 lbs round out the Viking placemats finishing in fourth.
Vikings at the Cold Turkey Tournament
“One of our goals is always to just give as many of our wrestlers as possible a chance to compete. I know we have a good depth at a lot of weights, but the results from Saturday were pleasantly surprising,” said Coach Gray. “A lot of teams struggle to fill weight classes and find coaches. Obviously, we are not having those issues. I am so grateful for what we have at Union Pines with the numbers of kids that want to wrestle, all the parent support we get, the administration’s support and the great help I have from Coach’s Soukup, Root, Martin and Blair.”
On Saturday, the girls will be back at Green Hope HS for the Green Hope Grapple and the boys will be competing at Pinecrest in their annual Mason Wagner dual event.
Written by Curtis Self, Photo’s courtesy of Coach Gray and Union Pines Wrestling.
