Polk County didn’t defend its Mountain Foothills 7 Conference Tournament team title on Saturday.
But with five individual champions and the 1A postseason ahead, head coach Thomas Hensley wasn’t too down in the dumps about watching R-S Central leave the PCHS gym with the team plaque in hand.
“I thought we wrestled well, and that’s the thing,” Hensley said. “This tournament, while it doesn’t mean anything for us moving forward, you still want to do well. Now we’re really excited to wrestle 1A competition for the rest of the year.”
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Polk County placed second Saturday in the team standings, 28 points behind the Hilltoppers. Numerous Wolverines received byes in the event, and not being able to wrestle those matches and earn team points affected Polk’s ability to contend for the team title.
But the day still proved a really good one for the program as four Wolverines claimed conference championships:
- Freshman Cole Huntley decisioned Brevard’s Jake Trowbridge in the 106-pound final.
- Sophomore Efrain Rivera won his second MF7 title with a pin of Chase’s Devin Ramsey at 120 pounds.
- A conference runner-up his first two years, junior Carson Bell finally landed an MF7 title, pinning R-S Central’s Elijah Guzman in the second period of their 157-pound final.
- Junior Zalen McCraw won his second straight conference title, scoring a 10-2 major decision over Brevard’s Koltt McCall in the final.
Five other Polk wrestlers reached the championship round – Liam Jackson at 113 pounds, Amon Villarreal at 126, Jacob Ed at 150, Styler Blackwell at 165 and Chester Wilson at 190. Grace Settles also finished as a conference runner-up in the girls tournament.
All had the chance to do so on their home mat as Polk County hosted a conference tournament for just the second time since 2015.
“It’s a really big deal, and we’re glad we’re able to make it special,” Hensley said. “A shout out to Darren May for running this event, the high school and the middle school (Friday’s Blue Ridge Conference tourney). I also want to thank all my parents that took care of the hospitality room and the kids for not only wrestling, but setting this place up, and we’re going to clean it up.
“This is truly a team effort, and I want to thank everyone. This was really good, and it shows how special Polk County really is.”
Pairings for the 1A state dual team tournament will be announced on Thursday, and Hensley is hoping that Polk County will get a chance to host an opening pod. Four teams will open playoff action on Saturday at a single location, with two matches tentatively set to start at 3 p.m. and the two winners then meeting to determine who advances.
Polk County is currently ranked third in 1A in RankWrestlers’ state ratings, just behind Uwharrie Charter Academy and Mount Airy.
“I think we’ve done everything we need to do,” Hensley said of preparing for the postseason. “So we’re going to see what happens.
“There’s a lot of things we’re going to work on in practice this week, getting better, and we’re excited about (the postseason).”
106
1st Place Match – Cole Huntley (Polk County) d. Jake Trowbridge (Brevard), 7-3
113
Semifinal – Liam Jackson (Polk County) maj. dec. Marcus Short (East Rutherford), 12-0
1st Place Match – Bryson Davis (R-S Central) 6-0 d. Liam Jackson, 8-3
120
Quarterfinal – Efrain Rivera (Polk County) p. Sergio Hill (East Rutherford) (Fall 0:30)
Semifinal – Efrain Rivera p. Aiden Gallegos (R-S Central) (Fall 1:25)
1st Place Match – Efrain Rivera p. Devan Ramsey (Chase) (Fall 0:13)
126
Semifinal – Amon Villarreal (Polk County) p. Tristin Cison (Brevard) (Fall 3:53)
1st Place Match – Sam Gosnell (R-S Central) d. Amon Villarreal, 5-0
132
Quarterfinal – Adrian Fox (Chase) p. Aiden Billings (Polk County) (Fall 2:48)
Cons. Semi – Aiden Billings (Polk County) tech. fall Ezra Wood (Hendersonville), 17-2
3rd Place Match – Aiden Billings (Polk County) tech. fall Cooper White (Brevard), 20-2
138
Semifinal – Alexander May (Hendersonville) p. Conner Ahlert (Polk County) (Fall 0:53)
3rd Place Match – Conner Ahlert p. Jeffery Goodwin (Chase) (Fall 2:10)
144
Quarterfinal – Alex Lane (East Rutherford) p. Evan McCraw (Polk County) (Fall 4:19)
Cons. Semi – Evan McCraw p. Cole Cubbison (Brevard) (Fall 5:08)
3rd Place Match – Alex Lane (East Rutherford) tech. fall Evan McCraw, 21-4
150
1st Place Match – Hunter Feagan (R-S Central) p. Jacob Ed (Polk County) (Fall 3:13)
157
1st Place Match – Carson Bell (Polk County) p. Elijiah Guzman (R-S Central) (Fall 2:36)
165
Quarterfinal – Styler Blackwell (Polk County) p. Cameron Swangim (Brevard) (Fall 2:36)
Semifinal – Styler Blackwell maj. dec. Burke Wilson (Patton), 10-0
1st Place Match – Caleb Cox (R-S Central) p. Styler Blackwell (Fall 5:45)
175
Quarterfinal – Zalen McCraw (Polk County) p. Barry Huntley (East Rutherford) (Fall 1:29)
Semifinal – Zalen McCraw tech. fall Nicholas Parlier (Patton), 15-0
1st Place Match – Zalen McCraw maj. dec. Koltt McCall (Brevard) (MD 10-2)
190
Semifinal – Chester Wilson (Polk County) p. Ryan Vue (Patton) (Fall 0:28)
1st Place Match – Jacob Hudgins (R-S Central) p. Chester Wilson (Fall 1:28)
215
Quarterfinal – Donte Tingling (Polk County) d. Seth Walker (Chase), 11-8
Semifinal – Kevin Saldana (Hendersonville) p. Donte Tingling (Fall 3:28)
Cons. Semi – Donte Tingling p. Brady Christian (Patton) (Fall 0:57)
3rd Place Match – Logan Diehm (East Rutherford) p. Donte Tingling (Fall 3:44)
