Quigley leads local wrestlers at state; Franklin makes history
In the Division II meet on Feb. 13 and 14, Webb’s Jack Quigley saw the best result of any west Knoxville wrestler with a third-place finish in the 144-pound bracket of the Division II championships. He went an impressive 5-1 with a 4-1 win over Father Ryan’s Jax Crolley for his third-place finish, claiming the best result of four Spartan state qualifiers.
At the same meet, CAK’s Kyler Cook took fourth place at 165, finishing the best out of the Warriors’ three state finalists. He went 3-1 before a loss to Montgomery Bell Academy’s Leland Hardcastle ended his day in the third-place bout.
Also in Division II, Concord Christian’s Matthew Franklin placed sixth in the 190-pound division. He went 3-2 with three straight wins before losing his final two matches, the final by fall against Christian Brothers’ John Bramlett.
Notably, Franklin was Concord’s first state medalist in program history.
In the Division I-AA meet in Franklin this past weekend, Farragut’s Izaac Koga went 0-2 in the 175-pound bracket in his first state tournament appearance. The second-year wrestler lost to Green Hills’ Rocco Harmon 15-0 in his opening match, then saw his state tournament stay end in a loss to Riverdale’s Elijah Means — the eventual fourth-place medalist — in a 12-0 result.
“To make the state tournament as a second-year wrestler is huge, and to lose all that weight and stay healthy is really big, too,” Farragut coach Charlie Rohn said of Koga. “This past year he focused a lot on his weight, so next year he won’t be worrying about that. So he can be focused even more on wrestling, so I think he’ll definitely place. It just shows what hard work can do.”
In the same meet, Hardin Valley produced three qualifiers but saw similar results as Koga.
HVA’s Adriel Roland lost to Blackmon’s Germaia Ewida by total fall, 16-0 and lost to
Wilson Central’s Wyatt
Nichols 14-7 to go 0-2 in the 106-pound slate.
William Wimer saw the same record at 157, losing to Rockvale’s Gerald Rollins, 3-0, and Kirkwood’s Luke Louzensky, 9-1.
In the 285 slot, Mikael Arce went 1-2 — losing to Green Hills’ Luka Nash 20-13 in overtime before bouncing back with a 6-0 win over Kenwood’s Karlos Ransom II via two takedowns. He lost narrowly to Cleveland’s Gabe Moore — the eventual state champion — 6-0 in the consolation round.
