GAINESVILLE -- White County placed 10 wrestlers in the semifinals at the Area 8-AAA Championships Friday at the Chestatee gym, the most of any of the 13 teams competing, but you can't convince coach Tim Bragg that his Warriors are now the team to beat.
The two-day meet concludes Saturday at Chestatee beginning with the consolation quarterfinals at 9:30 a.m. The semifinals are slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. and the finals are scheduled for 3 p.m. following the consolation rounds.
"There are four teams that could easily win this thing," Bragg said. "There is a lot of wrestling left. We will need to put at least half of those in the finals to have a real shot. Oconee, Lumpkin West Hall are all strong. It's anybody's meet right now."
White County leads the field with 103 points. Oconee County is second with 94, Lumpkin County is third with 86.5, West Hall fourth at 84, and Chestatee rounds out the top five with 72.5 points through the first two rounds.
Franklin County (70.5), North Hall (54), Gainesville (42), Stephens County (32), Walnut Grove (31.5), Monroe Area (31), Johnson (22), and Lanier (12) round out the field.
There were no major upsets in the opening day's action, however, the 160-pound division is star-studded with four wrestlers in the division that finished in the top six in the state last season. Ricardo Mancilla of West Hall and Lee Cagle of Lumpkin County, who finished third in the state last year, are on a collision course for the finals.
Caleb Morris, a state champion at 125 last season, leads the 10 White County wrestlers into the semifinals at 130 along with Billy Wurtz (103), Dustin Forrester (119) and Bradley McDougal (160). Dylan Forrester (125) was upset in the quarterfinals by Lumpkin's Robert Harris.
Lumpkin County is poised to make a run with eight wrestlers in the semifinals, led by JT Todd (119), Josh Berry (130), Michael Hilliard (152), Cagle (160) and Travis Burton (215). Despite sitting in the fourth spot, West Hall is very much alive with eight in the finals, including Tanner Yates (140), Logan Herford (145), Omar Lopez (119) and Mancilla (160).
The top four wrestlers in each weight class will advance to next week's sectional meet at Locust Grove.
Oconee County coach Jimmy Herring said they are hoping to capitalize on nine wrestlers in the semifinals. The Warriors finished fourth in 8-AAA last season with a young squad.
"These guys have been building to this and we are right where we were hoping to be at this point," Herring said. "We wrestled well but if we don't come out strong (Saturday) it won't matter. There are four or five teams that can win this thing. Every match is big and it may be decided in the consolation round by who has the most guys come back."
Sunday
May 4th, 2025
10:40PM
