Cats hard hosts

Published 11:35 pm Saturday, December 3, 2011

Since being named the wrestling coach at Dalton High, Charles Mitchell has brought the Carpet Classic Tournament back to the Cats Den.

On Saturday, Mitchell’s Cats finally pinned down the win.

“The best we had done since I have been here was a fourth-place finish,” Mitchell said after the Catamounts had three individual champions and easily outdistanced Northwest Whitfield to claim the team title as 21 teams competed in the day-long event Saturday. “I challenged them when we first started practicing, and it is nice to win this tournament today.”

Dalton had first-place finishes from Luis Juan at 113 pounds, Reinaldo Torres (160) and Sidney Wheeler (182) with second-place finishes by Alexis Ocampo (120) and Larry Fernandez (220). As a team, the Cats had 148 total points with Northwest second with 134.5. Southeast Whitfield was third with 133 points, and Murray County finished fourth with 128.5. North Murray was 10th overall, while first-year wrestling program Coahulla Creek finished 19th.

The victory for Dalton follows an offseason when Mitchell said he has been more demanding from his wrestlers.

“I felt like our mentality was that we weren’t doing all that we could,” Mitchell said. “I challenged them, and there have been a lot of sacrifices made by this group of guys.”

Juan, a senior, said that the team has responded to the challenges.

“As an upperclassman with a few other seniors, we want to push the underclasses to see how it feels to overcome adversity and keep working hard,” Juan said. “The Carpet Classic is a really big tournament for us, and it is a great way to start off the season.”

Getting off to a strong start was important to Torres as well.

“What has impressed me the most is that the whole team is getting after it,” Torres said. “Most of the team is young, but they have all fought to get on this team.”

Wheeler is one of those younger wrestlers. Just a sophomore, he held off Northwest’s Jared Haws for a 4-2 win in the finals.

“It feels real good,” Wheeler said. “I was runner up last year as a freshman, and I am just glad I could get a win and help the team win the title.”

Northwest’s Dustin Pendergrass was the winner at 152, taking his victory by pin over North Murray’s Jake Abernathy. Pendergrass improves to 10-0 on the young year and is looking at the 2011-12 season as a major opportunity.

“I have gotten off to a fast start because I have trained all throughout the summer and the fall,” Abernathy said. “It is going well right now, and I have had some good matches with some good competition and there is no limit to what can happen this year.”

The second-place finish for the Bruins put a smile on coach Allen Tucker, who has been pleased with what he has seen in the opening weeks of the season.

“These kids are really starting to grow up and the Carpet Classic is always good to us because of the quality of the competition,” Tucker said. “All around, I was very pleased. We had three guys who didn’t place, but they wrestled as well as I have ever seen them wrestle.

“We aren’t where we need to be yet, and we still have a couple of holes to fill, but we are getting better.”

Other placers for Northwest were Justin Palmer (3rd, 106), Adam Selby (3rd, 285) and Brian Whitmire (4th, 195).

Southeast didn’t have an individual champion, but the Raiders had a pair of second-place finishes, two thirds and a fourth.

Omar Ruiz finished second to Juan at 113, while Carlos Fraire was second at 285. Jeremy White (120) and Jesus Domingez (132) were both third, while Aaron Thomas was fourth at 126.

“We have started pretty strong with three tournaments and three top-three finishes,” Southeast coach Neil Nichols said. “I am proud of the guys. We’ve got some experience, but we are still fairly young. We are getting there.”

Matthew Crace at 220 was the lone champion for Murray County as he won a 10-5 victory over Dalton’s Fernandez. Crace, a senior, is wrestling for the first time since eighth grade and has a 15-3 record on the year.

“I just felt like I had the willpower to come back out and win on the mat,” he said.

Murray had top-four finishes from Domingo Bautista (4th, 106), Todd Miles (4th, 113), Juan Duarte (2nd, 132) and Blade Lequire (4th, 285). North Murray’s top finishers were Abernathy at 152, and Al Fraire (4th, 220).