Two grapplers win championships

BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

PIKEVILLE — Two Martin County High School grapplers won championships and one was named Most Outstanding Wrestler in the Hatfield & McCoy 32 Friday in Pikeville.

Seventh-grader Parker Maynard (19-1 high school, 22-0 middle school) pinned four seniors, including the 13th-ranked wrestler in the state, to win the 132-pound class and was honored as the Most Outstanding Wrestler.

In round 1, Maynard pinned Cayden Kelsey of Johnson Central in 1:31. He pinned Boyd County’s Chris Isaacs in 2:38 in the quarterfinal and Jack Ferrell of David Crockett in 4:44 in the semifinal.

Maynard took on McCreary Central’s Chase Bowlin in the championship match and pinned him in 3:19.

Julian Stafford (18-5) won the 126-pound class. He received a bye in the first round, pinned Logan Boggs of Central Wise in 40 seconds in the quarterfinal, and Trestan Stephens of McCreary Central in 3:17 in the semifinal.

Stafford won the championship in the ultimate tiebreaker 2-2 over Bryce Ramey of Union.

Rafe Price (16-6) was runner-up in the 144-pound class, while Weston Jude (20-4) was runner-up in the 150-pound class.

Price pinned Pike County Central’s Malachi Anderson in 3:41, McCreary Central’s Cameron Burke in 1:08, and Belfry’s James E. Jones in 58 seconds. It took Boyd County’s John Jackson 4:42 to pin him in the first-place match.

Jude received a bye in round 1, pinned Belfry’s Tucker Maynard in 1:31 in round 2, won over Ean Baker of Union by technical fall 1.5 4:17 in the quarterfinal, and beat Judge Davis of Central Wise 15-3 in the semifinal. He lost the first-place match to Dezsel Rambaad of David Crockett.

Jeremy Mollett (8-1) and Jeremy Bentley (8-1) both finished third, Nick Harless finished fifth, Caleb Costa sixth, James Bentley and Braxton Smith finished seventh, and Jack Stafford eighth.

Martin County finished fifth as a team out of 22 teams.