CHARLOTTE — A successful first day at the Elizabeth Barry Memorial Invitational helped the Richmond Senior High School wrestling team finish in the top 15 of the two-day event.
With 35 teams converging at Mallard Creek High School from North and South Carolina for the annual holiday tournament on Friday and Saturday, the Raiders took 15th place with 69 total points.
Richmond ended the first day of competition with 51 points, which put them in fifth place.
Head coach Earl Nicholson noted “the second day was not as good” to his team, which only managed to add 18 more points in the final rounds of the tournament.
Entering the tournament, senior lightweight Joey Nicholson (120-pound) held a perfect 16-0 record. He would receive an opening round bye and defeat Cameron Boydstun of Bradford Preparatory School by pinfall in just 42 seconds during his second round match.
But Nicholson’s second day wasn’t as successful, seeing him lose both of his matches in the quarterfinal round (5-2 decision to Caden Hagler, Providence Day High School) and his consolation match (9-0 major decision to Amon Ellis, Olympic High School).
Joey Nicholson added six points to the Raiders’ total, but it was sophomore heavyweight Ahmad Shelton who led the team with 17 points and a seventh-place finish in the 285-pound division.
Joining Shelton with double-digit points were senior Austin Gallops (160-pound) and sophomore Dante Baldwin (126-pound), who added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Shelton, who competed in his first varsity matches this season, earned a pin over Taron Williams (South Mecklenburg High School) in 1:04 to start the tournament. He would fall in the second round and move to the consolation bracket, but battled back to pick up four wins in his next five matches.
He earned pins over Ryan Williams (Vance High School, 0:16), Kevin Ksa (West Mecklenburg High School, 2:52) and Mason Jaeger (Butler High School, 2:11). In the seventh-place match, Shelton earned a forfeit win over Cox Mills High School’s Jeff Meendering.
Gallops saw his season record improve to 14-7 and reached the semifinal round of the championship bracket before losing to Wiliam Lowery (Myers Park High School). Prior to that, he earned pinfall wins over Gavin Hoskins (Alexander Central High School, 0:49) and Amir Haynes (Olympic, 1:04).
In the consolation semifinal match, Gallops suffered an injury that saw him have to forfeit his final match of the tournament to Alex Cowart (Mallard Creek), and finished sixth overall.
Baldwin continued his impressive sophomore campaign with an eight-place finish in his weight class. He pinned Bilal Diggs (Cox Mills, 2:42) to open the event, but lost to Kyle Sanders (South Mecklenburg) in the championship bracket quarterfinals.
That sent Baldwin to the consolation bracket, where he pinned Kobe Reed (Rock Hill High School, 1:56) before losing his next two matches.
Other Raiders to record points were Ethan Owens (6 points), Bryant Coll (4 points), Carson Jordan (4 points), Nathaniel Parker (4 points), Mikey Baldwin (3 points) and Andres Sanchez (2 points).
“Overall the tournament was a great experience for the guys,” Coach Nicholson said. “A number of weight classes were stacked with top-ranked wrestlers. We didn’t get some of the outcomes we wanted, but we learned a lot about our strengths and weaknesses.”
Nicholson added the Richmond junior varsity team fared well at the event, placing second behind Rock Hill, whose varsity team also took first place.
Winning his respective weight classes were Naaman Perakis (120-pound), Michael DeMay (138-pound) and Uriah McDonald (220-pound). Taking second overall was Josh Wallace (132-pound).
Several JV wrestlers earned a third-place finish: Jaxon Martin (103-pound), Messiah Shaw (126-pound), Marco Flores (132-pound), Lakota Scott (138-pound), Bryan Stevens (145-pound), Jaylen McDonald (152-pound), Jabori Hester (220-pound) and Sebastian Fullwood (285-pound). Caleb Hubbard (106-pound) earned fourth overall.
The Raiders will return to the mat for the Holy Angels Tournament, an 85-school individual tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The event will be held at the Bojangles Arena in Charlotte.
