CHARLOTTE — The Richmond Senior High School wrestling team brought in the new year by competing in its biggest individual tournament of the season at the Holy Angels Tournament in the Bojangles Coliseum.
Head coach Earl Nicholson explained that the Raiders were without many of their regular varsity starters in the 103-team event, seeing many absent due to the holiday break and several dealing with injury.
Despite the low participation, varsity wrestlers Dante Baldwin (sophomore, 126-pound) and Hector Castro (junior, 132-pound) each picked up three total points in Richmond’s effort on the mat.
Both wrestlers would lose their opening match, sending them to the consolation bracket. Following a first-round bye, Castro picked up his three points with a technical fall victory over Lumberton High School’s Tristan Rodriguez. Castro defeated his Pirate opponent 15-0 in three rounds.
Baldwin would get a first-round bye in the consolation round before going on to defeat Ardrey Kell High School’s Cooper Marshall in a 6-4 decision.
Nicholson said he was most impressed with the junior varsity team’s performance, which saw 19 of its 27 total wrestlers compete. Four JV Raiders — Carl Hailey (113-pound), Joshua Wallace (132-pound), Ethan Owens (154-pound) and Mikey Baldwin (170-pound) — would finish in a medal round match.
Owens and Wallace would each place second overall in their respective weight class, followed by Baldwin in third and Hailey in fourth. Finishing with a 3-1 record were Owens and Wallace, as Owens picked up three pins and Wallace had a pin and two minor decisions.
To start his tournament, Owens pinned Lumberton’s Angel Garcia in 52 seconds, and followed up with a 28-second pinfall victory over Uwharrie Charter Academy’s James Boling.
During the semifinal match, Owens made quick work of North Henderson High School’s Tyson Norris with a pin, before falling 5-2 in the title match to Ryan O’Sullivan (Cuthbertson High School).
Wallace also impressed in his first round with a pinfall win over Daylon Horrell (Laney High School) in two minutes. The quarterfinal match saw Wallace earn a 6-1 decision over Christian Polking (Charlotte Catholic), and the semifinal round was a 5-4 decision for Wallace over Hoke County High School’s Evans Stephens-McIntosh.
Josh McCollum (Central Academy of Technology and Arts) edged Wallace 3-0 in the 132-pound junior varsity championship.
Mikey Baldwin earned third place, starting with a bye in the quarterfinals, followed by a pin over Nathan Rivers (Parkwood High School) 52 seconds into the second round. He would drop a 1-8 decision to Samuel Davis (Cardinal Gibbons High School), but rebounded with a pin against Colin Culp (Cuthbertson) in the next bout.
To take the third-place medal, Baldwin scrapped his way to a 6-2 win over Dylan Story of Central Davidson High School.
For Hailey, a bye, a loss, and pins over Lee Pederson (Charlotte Catholic) and Oliver Schnabel (Cuthberston) set up his third-place match with Taylor Noyola of Concord High School. Noyola defeated Hailey 5-2 in that match.
Nicholson and the Raiders will be back on the mat Saturday in the Joel McCanna Invitational at Scotland High School.
