Monday March 18th, 2024 11:01PM

Wrestling: 31 area grapplers move on to traditional semifinals

By AccessWDUN Staff

DULUTH — Plenty of northeast Georgia's best high school wrestlers still have a chance to claim gold this weekend at the GHSA Traditional Championships in Duluth, as 31 area grapplers battled their way into the semifinal round on Thursday.

Classes AAAAAA-AAA all began their march through the traditional brackets at the Infinite Energy Arena, while Classes A and AA will wait until Friday to get underway.

There were plenty of success stories on Thursday, including an impressive start for defending Class AAA champ Jefferson, as the Dragons pushed nine wrestlers through to the semifinal round. Ian Statia (106 pounds), Dawson Bates (113), Mitchell McGhee (120), Cole Potts (126), Tanner Thurmond (132), Will Ballard (152), Caleb Little (182), Deshon Lester (195) and Nick Holman (285) each battled their way into the semifinals.

Banks County produced the next highest number of semifinalists in Class AAA with four -- Devin Mullinax (106), Chris McCrackin (138), Chris Guthrie (160) and Dylan Gouine (170) -- while Buford and North Hall each notched four semifinal spots in Class AAAA.

Logan Ashton (106), Trent Ferguson (138), Jack Barber (145) and Jack Ness (195) will each make a push for a title for the Wolves, while Michael Carew (160), Nick Whitmire (170), Isaiah Hale (182) and Randy Galvan (220) will do the same for the Trojans.

Jackson County also sent a trio into the Class AAA final four, including Luke Gonzalez (120), Chandler Saine (132) and Connor Crump (145). Also reaching the Class AAA semifinals were Kelton LeBaron (113) of Dawson County, Will Davidson (126) of East Hall, Jacob Lindenmeyer (145) of East Jackson and Zach Matthews (220) of Lumpkin County.

Chestatee's Marvin Cunningham (138) also won two matches to reach the Class AAAA semifinals, while Flowery Branch's Ronald Link (132) made it into the Class AAAAA semifinals. Habersham Central's Andrew Burpee (126) also earned a shot at winner's bracket in Class AAAAAA.

No wrestler has yet been eliminated from the double-elimination tournament, and plenty more competitors are still gunning for third place in the consolation bracket. 

Competition will resume on Friday in Duluth, culminating in semifinals for all classifications. Championship rounds and consolation semifinals and finals will also take place on Saturday. For a complete look at northeast Georgia-based wrestlers competing in this weekend's championships, click here.

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