CAMERON — Five wrestlers from Richmond Senior High School climbed onto the podium during Wednesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference championship.
The Raiders finished tied for fourth place in the regular-season finale, tying Southern Lee High School with 62 points.
Hosting the event, Union Pines High School clinched the conference title, collecting 258 points. Second and third place went to Pinecrest (175 points) and Hoke County (132.5 points) high schools, respectively.
Senior K’Mauri Morgan, Richmond’s leader in wins entering the tournament, walked away with the team’s lone individual conference crown. Going undefeated on the night, Morgan was named the SAC champion in the 215-pound weight class, his first career conference title.
Also wrestling for a chance at a conference championship in the 120-pound division, freshman Dylan Nunez fell a couple points short and ended his first high school season with a second-place finish.
Junior Jordan Hamilton (190-pounds), sophomore Hayden Smith (144-pounds) and freshman Brian Ingram (132-pounds) rounded out the podium finishes for the Raiders. Hamilton clinched third overall in his weight class, while Smith and Ingram were both fourth.
Morgan went 3-0 and used a first-round bye, a technical fall and a decision victory to notch his conference crown.
In the semifinals, his first match of the night, Morgan defeated Amari Singletary of Hoke County with a tech fall. Racking up the points quickly, Morgan won 19-3 just 34 seconds into the second period.
That set up the penultimate championship match of the entire event, a showdown with familiar opponent Dantrell Williams of Union Pines. Battling all three periods, Morgan won 17-10 to silence the home crowd.
An early mistake in the first 15 seconds of the match saw Morgan toppled by Williams and he trailed 6-0. Able to escape and go back to a neutral start, Morgan managed to even the score 7-7 by the end of the first period.
Crediting a crucial reversal in the final seconds of the second period, which gave him two points, Morgan took his first lead of the match. At the whistle, he led 10-8.
A pair of takedowns in the third period accounted for six of Morgan’s final seven points. In the final 10 seconds, Morgan iced the win with a takedown right in front of many of his teammates.
Nunez also had three matches, starting with a bye in the quarterfinals. He followed that with a decision victory in the semis before losing the championship match to Jimmy Araujo of Pinecrest.
In the semifinals, Nunez defeated Erick Gutierrez of Southern Lee 15-10. Against Araujo, Nunez ran out of steam and suffered a 16-7 major decision defeat.
Hamilton received a bye in the first round. After suffering an 11-5 loss to Rollins Rodriguez (Pinecrest) in the semis, Hamilton moved to the consolation bracket.
Able to get a bye in the consolation semis, Hamilton earned a third-place finish in the 190-pound weight class with a win over McKinley Alapati (Hoke County). Early in the third period, Hamilton pinned Alapati to the mat.
Smith was the only Raider not to receive a first-round bye to begin the quarterfinals. He defeated Bryceson Murphy (Scotland) via a 15-0 technical fall in just over a minute into the match.
Falling 18-1 to Arthur Jones (Hoke County) in the semis, Smith battled his way back into contention for the third-place match with a pinfall over Jakobe Griffin of Southern Lee. In his final bout of the night, Smith was pinned by Liam Ewan (Pinecrest) near the end of the first period.
Richmond’s final top-four finisher, Ingram had byes in the quarterfinal and consolation semifinal rounds. He was pinned in the semifinals by Joseph Lloyd (Union Pines) and took fourth place when he lost 17-0 (technical fall) to Javier Soriano (Southern Lee).
Also competing in the SAC tournament were senior Joseph Patterson (150-pounds, 1-2), sophomore Konner Gardner (157-pounds, 1-2), freshman Antoine McDonald (165-pounds, 1-2) and junior Braxton Martinez (175-pounds, 1-2).
Head coach Andre’ Ellerbe said Morgan, Hamilton, Nunez and Smith are all “very likely” to qualify for the NCHSAA 4A Mideast regional tournament in two weeks.
PHOTOS: Click here to view photos of Wednesday’s SAC conference championship.
