GISA duals go to Westfield

Westfield wrestlers won the 2013 GISA state duals tournament

Saturday for the second time in three years. The Hornets defeated host Windsor

Academy in the quarterfinals 60-24, Southland Academy in the semifinals 48-30,

and defending champion Bulloch Academy in the finals 47-26.

“The finals round was expected to be a challenge against Bulloch, but with the

powerful middleweight classes we proved too much for Bulloch to overcome,” said

coach Michael Thompson. “We started the meet at the 170 weight class, and

knowing the competitive styles we were going up against, I felt switching the

line-up was necessary to get a larger point spread for the victory.”

Austin Jenkins, returning state champion at the 160-lb.

class, jumped up to the 170 class to face an opponent known for throws,

Thompson said.

“With Jenkins’ more offensive style and strong pinning

ability, we capitalized early with a pin at the end of the first period,” he

said. “Cotton Hammerle, normally at the 170 weight class, moved to 182 to face

G.C. Kimbrell of Bulloch for what, after watching him in the past, I felt would

be a close match and wanted to seal a three-point decision.

“Hammerle ended up losing in overtime, but I was pretty

satisfied with the effort. We lost the next two matches by pin by Bulloch’s

strongest wrestlers at 195 and 220. Hamilton Way and Walker Davison put up very

good struggles, but both were pinned by the more experienced Gators.”

At 285 Ty Forrester won by pin. In the 106-lb. class Josh

Kinnebrew pinned his opponent inside 30 seconds for the shortest match of the

night. At 113 and 120, Dayton Hammerle and Jon Allen Snellgrove both lost by

pin before Chandler Bohannon won a very close match against two-time state

champion Mitchell Ball.

Bohannon got a strong lead by the end of the second period.

The third period proved challenging as Bohannon was penalized for stalling, but

hung on for a 7-5 victory.

“The middleweights, which dominate all of our dual meet

opponents, had a clean sweep from 132 through 160 all winning by pin or major

decision,” said Thompson.

Bryce Westmoreland at 132 and Josh Jenkins at 145 both won

by major decision, while Ben Brooks at 138, Griffin Cawthon at 152 and Conner

Cawthon at 160 all won by pin.  

Westfield now looks forward to the

Gamecock Duals tournament in Sumter, S.C., this coming weekend where a strong

line-up of top ranked teams will compete including No. 1 ranked

Bamberg-Earhardt, state champions the past two years.

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