West Laurens, Veterans lead nearly 90 Central Georgia wrestlers into state championship

          A year ago, West Laurens sent 11 wrestlers to the GHSA state traditional wrestling tournament, and finished second.
          The Raiders are back, again with 11, and with a whopping eight wrestlers who finished in the top three in sectionals, and are ready to commence their yearly contention for a state title.
          Sectional champs Dre Bonner (160), Brent Carr (170), Chase Horne (220), and Spencer Dacus (285) are among those eight.
          Several Central Georgians will try to defend championships, or reverse a championship loss, albeit some in different weight classes.
          Veterans’ Francis Morrissey won it at 138/5A, and is up to 152.
          Dacus took the 220 title in 4A, and is all the way up to 285, which was won by now-graduated teammate Joseph Horne.
West Laurens’ Logan McGowan moves up to 132 after losing 4-2 at 126. Jones County’s Trey Bonner lost by fall in the 285 finals in 5A.
Scores of other wrestlers who finished in the top eight are back, including third-place finishers Ethan Martin in 106 (now 120) and Julian Farber in 113 (now 132) from Veterans.
          Veterans and West Laurens had the best team performances last year, the Warhawks sixth in 5A and the Raiders second in 4A. Veterans qualified 10, with five finishing third or better in sectionals, Morrissey and Kevin Reynolds at 160 (fourth at 152 last year) winning.
          West Laurens is having another quality year, but perhaps with some mixed emotions.
          Last May, Michael Slaughter, a fixture as a West Laurens wrestler, assistant coach and then head coach – although he had accepted a job at Jefferson shortly before – was found dead of a suspected suicide at his home shortly before officers arrived to arrest him on charges of raping a student and of sexual assault with supervisory or disciplinary authority.
          Slaughter was one of the top wrestlers in Central Georgia as a Raider, helping West Laurens to AA state traditional titles in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
          West Laurens has remained a regular contender in the state traditional meet and appears to have one of its better and deeper teams this year. And the Raiders are the last Central Georgia team to win the title, coming close a few times since, including two years ago when they finished third.
          Mount de Sales qualified seven, four more than last year.
          Bibb County public school teams qualified two more than last year, with three from Howard, two from Central and Rutland, one from Westside and from Northeast.
          Perry moved eight on to the championship in 4A, three more than last year, while Baldwin has seven. Lamar County has seven in AA, an improvement of four.
          The top eight sectional wrestlers in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, and 4A qualify, while the top six in 3A, AA, and A.
          The meet begins Wednesday at 2 p.m. with 5A and 4A, followed by 6A and 7A at 4 p.m. Classes A, AA, and AAA beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday. The consolations start at 10 a.m. Saturday with the finals to begin at 3 p.m.
          Tickets are $14 a day, with a three-day pass for $34 and a four-day pass for $40.
          Action will be streamed on the NFHS network for a fee. Live stats are on www.trackwrestling.com.

CLASS 6A
Houston County
106 Alex Payan, eighth, 14-28
138 Bryan Hernandez-Martinez, first, 49-1
160 Vincent Reed, third, 31-2
195 Thomas Swart, eighth, 25-17

Northside
152 Charvis Curry, eighth, 3-4
 
CLASS 5A
Jones County
285 Trey Bonner, third, 23-2

Veterans
113 Zach Coumbs, eighth, 22-27  
120 Ethan Martin, fourth, 54-8
126 Brice Linde, fourth, 48-12
132 Julian Farber, third, 60-2
145 Tanner Vorse, sixth, 39-11
152 Francis Morrissey, first, 57-0  
160 Kevin Reynolds, first, 59-4
170 Colt Schneller, second, 47-4
182 Austin Suess, third, 26-10
195 Wylde Wilkerson, fifth, 31-9

Warner Robins
220 Ja’ven Gooch, fifth, 19-4

CLASS 4A
Baldwin
106 Emmanuel Alexander, eighth, 24-13
113 Jaquez Rozer, seventh, 21-8
120 Chavis Watson, fourth, 18-7 
145 Christopher Green, fourth, 27-7
170 Eugene Brown, eighth, 7-6 
182 Titus Jackson, sixth, 23-8 
220 Xavier Washington, sixth, 16-6

Howard
113 Christian Brown, fourth, 12-6
120 Demonta Troutman, fifth,12-4
195 Gerraud Pertillo, fourth, 20-12

Mary Persons
152 Brycen Young, first, 44-2

Perry
106 Austin Thiel, Perry, first, 5-0
113 Jadorrian Bass, fifth, 5-2
138 Triston Thiel, fourth, 5-2
145 Brannen Moss, seventh, 4-3
170 Jordan Thompkins, 5-3
182 Shashoni Williams, third, 5-2
195 Zeke Taylor, first, 5-0
220 Carleek Woodsen, fourth, 4-3

Upson-Lee
160 Shuntavis Smith, fifth, 5-3
170 Thorne Strome, sixth, 3-4
182 Matthew Gordon, eighth, 2-4

West Laurens
106 Jake Shepard, fifth, 23-24
132 Logan McGowan, second, 48-5
138 Bobby Beasley, sixth, 23-11
145 Evan Stokes, second, 31-6 
152 Caden Snell, second, 18-10
160 Dre Bonner, first, 46-7
170 Brent Carr, first, 44-2
182 Michael Thomsen, fourth, 34-9
195 Evan Guyton, second, 15-6
220 Chase Horne, first, 55-2
285 Spencer Dacus, first,  58-0

CLASS 3A
Central
126 Javon Pitts, fourth, 24-7
285 Adam Lamar, second, 19-5

Rutland
126 Tyrell Davis, third, 25-4 
145 Daniel Taylor, third, 20-9

Westside
160 Joseph Johnson, sixth, 13-4

CLASS AA
Dodge County
160 KeShaun Smokes, second, 32-12
220 Javon McNeal, third, 16-8

East Laurens
126 Dan Dozier, second, 22-7 
220 Chase Fleming, fourth, 16-8

Lamar County
120 Eric Cornell, sixth, 28-24 
126 Levi Banks, sixth, 21-14
145 Dylan Eidson, second, 39-4 
152 Cory Young, second, 40-14
160 Joseph O’Dell, third, 44-15
195 Bryce Boland, fourth, 40-8
285 LaJavis Nelson, fifth, 40-15 

Monticello
113 Quinton Tuggle, sixth, 41-16 
170 Tristen Light, fifth, 25-10 

Northeast
220 Gavin Hill, fifth, 6-3

CLASS A
Crawford County
120 Nick Gossett, sixth, 19-12 
138 Brandon Walker, sixth, 12-11
145 Braelyn Cain, sixth, 23-6 

FPD
182 Josh Raines, fifth, 25-3
195 Ty Turley, fifth, 20-5 

GMC
106 Andrew Barnes, sixth, 20-12
113 Connor Smith, sixth, 23-12
145 Aiden Greer, third, 21-1
182 Hudson Caldwell, fourth, 14-4

Mount de Sales
106 Elijah Batchelor, fifth, 40-11
126 Christian Sims, fourth, 37-9
132 Jackson Schofield, sixth, 27-11
160 Parker Pierce, fourth, 32-7
182 Chiagoziem Iteogu, sixth, 36-7
220 Dylan Gattie, sixth, 17-23
285 Dane Frier, first, 26-6

Stratford
195 Kieran MacKinnon, fourth, 21-9

Tattnall
138 Kyle Johnson, sixth, 16-7
152 TyJay Sanders, fifth, 19-2