FAYETTEVILLE – After a season that saw an unusual amount of starters leave the team, the Richmond Senior High School wrestling team wrapped up its regular season competition with a fifth-place finish in the Sandhills Athletic Conference championship over the weekend.
The Raiders combined to earn 54 points at the SAC tournament, as Pinecrest High School took the title, as it scored a team-best 177 points. Falling between the two schools were Purnell Swett (170.5), Lumberton (149.5) and Jack Britt (144.5) high schools.
Richmond’s core of underclassmen wrestlers was able to outscore several SAC teams on the mat, including Hoke County (44), Seventy-First (39) and Scotland (33.5)
"We placed where I expected us to place," said head coach Earl Nicholson when speaking of Saturday’s tournament. The team competed without one of its top performers in sophomore and reigning Official Richmond County Athlete of the Week Joey Nicholson, who was out due to an injury suffered during practice last week.
But Coach Nicholson stated that his main focus at the tournament as trying to see improvement.
"A lot of guys fixed many of their mistakes during the tournament,” Nicolson noted. “Hopefully these improvements will serve us well in the regionals two weeks from now.”
The top performer for the Raiders was Zach Hamilton, who finished third in the 138-pound weight class, while also racking up a team-high 15 ponts. He pinned Hoke County’s Adam Shorter in the quarterfinals match before being bounced by a major decision in the semifinals to Armondo Marquez of Lumberton. In the consolation semifinals, Hamilton earned a major-decision victory over Pinecrest’s Dane Matthews.
Second on the team in points was Bryant Coles, who finished fourth in the 126-pound weight class, but netted 11 points.
Steven Morales also took third place in his weight class (120 pounds), earning 10 points for the Raiders, while Austin Gallops tacked on 10 more points with a third-place finish in the 152-pound weight class. Morales went 2-1 on the day, but fell to Pinecrest’s Parker Nelson in the semifinals match. Gallops was able to pin his semifinals opponent, Ethan Dowie of Jack Britt, to earn a third-place finish.
Junior Skylar Standridge lost his opening bout in the 220-pound weight class, but managed to pick up two wins in the process. In the third-place match, he fell for the second time to the same opponent, Jack Britt’s Trevor Outlaw.
The Raider wrestling team will be competing in regionals in two weeks.
