WINSTON-SALEM — TIght races are shaping up in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s state wrestling tournament after Friday’s action at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
In 4-A competition, Mount Tabor tallied 50 points from the first day of action to 46 for Cary. Fayetteville Jack Britt and Northwest Guilford are knotted in third with 36 points and Watauga is fifth with 33.
Davie, which defeated Cary for the 4-A dual team title two weeks ago, is currently tied for seventh.
Both Mount Tabor and Cary were very successful in quarterfinal action.Mount Tabor advanced six of seven wrestlers into the semifinals while the Imps had five of their six quarterfinalists win.
Eden Morehead holds a slim advantage over Hickory St.Stephens in the 3-A classification.Morehead tallied 49.5 points to 42 for St. Stephens. Two weeks ago the two teams collided in the state 3-A dual team championships with Morehead taking the state title in that format.
Morehead had eight wrestlers in the quarterfinals while St. Stephens had five competitors.
West Carteret is third with 38 points while Eastern Wayne and Jamestown Ragsdale are knotted in fourth with 31.5 points. Ragsdale is the defending 3-A team champion in this tournament.
Catawba Bandys has the lead over the rest of the field in the 1-A/2-A team standings after Friday night’s quarterfinals.
The Trojans, who finished in a dead heat with Brevard for the 2004 team tournament title and won the crown outright last year, have 50 points to 30.5 for second-place Newport Croatan. Bandys beat Croatan for the NCHSAA 1-A/2-A dual team championship two weeks ago and had five wrestlers win their way into Saturday’s semifinals.
Orange is in third place with 26 points, followed by Mount Pleasant with 22.5 points and Newton-Conover with 22.
Tournament action in all classifications continues on Saturday morning, starting at 8:30, with the finals scheduled for Saturday night.
Results in agate form will be posted periodically throughout the weekend of competition on the NCHSAA web site. Go to Championship Results and then to wrestling, and scroll to the bottom of the page where results will be added. All of the first day’s results were posted as of 10 p.m. on Friday.
