BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
BRISTOL — Martin County Cardinals Youth wrestling won second place Sunday in the all-star K-8 Bristol Border Brawl at Viking Hall in Bristol, Tenn.
The Cardinals amassed 315 points, placing second by 1.5 points to Tennessee Wrestling Academy with 316.5.
The tournament featured 65 teams with close to 700 wrestlers in five age divisions, with multiple state and national champions.
“This was probably our biggest test of the season,” Cardinal coach Andrew Chaffin said. “These kids are slaying giants and making it known that Martin County is able to stand toe-to-toe with the best.
Martin County left with six individual championships, six runners-up, four third-place finishes, three fourth-place and one sixth-place.
Jeremy Mollett double-bracketed, winning first place in the middle school 90-lb. division and second in the middle school 95-lb.
Chaffin called Mollett’s performance a “standout.” Mollett double-bracketed in the same morning session with a 7-1 record, four pins and two overtime wins, “taking out a couple of giants along the way.”
“Anyone who has ever double-bracketed knows how hard that is stepping off one mat and straight back onto another,” said Chaffin.
“Keep slaying giants, kids. One day you’ll be one yourself.”
Below are the winners in their respective divisions.
Tot T46 — Mason Maynard earned a third-place finish. He received a bye in the first round and lost 13-9 to Jerimiah Kilby of Alleghany Wrestling in the quarterfinal. Maynard recovered in the next three rounds and pinned Turner Chandler of Union Wrestling in 19 seconds, Annsley Taylor of Vikings in 1:52, and Abel Keklack of Vikings in 1:29.
Tot T55-60 — Woodley Mullins finished in second place. He pinned Jameson Roberts of Union in 2 minutes, won by major decision 14-3 over Branley Deel of GWC and pinned Hudson Greer of Divinity in 1:48. Mullins lost round 4 to Wyatt Thompson of Divinity and rebounded to pin Sara Gorby of Impact Wrestling in 1:20 in the final round.
Bantam B40 — Lukas Mays went 4-1 on the day and finished in second place. He lost the first round to Greg Henry of Seymour Youth Wrestling and rebounded to win the next four rounds. He pinned Jaelynn Meadows of Divinity and Jude Worley of Castlewood, then won over Connor Sayers of Richlands 11-10 and Beau Atwell of TNWA 6-0.
Bantam B45 — Luke Lawson finished fourth. He pinned Kaleb Meadows of Divinity and Nolan Cruey of Rural Retreat before losing round 3 to Kade Burrell of Haywood. He came back in the consolation semifinal and pinned Dylan Farmer of Highlands and won the third-place match 6-1 over Brody Bauer of Smith Mountain Lake.
Bantam B60 — Jeremiah VanHoose finished first winning four rounds. He pinned Thomas Vandyle of Richlands, Moxon Canter of Battle Cat and Josef Cregger of Divinity. He won the championship match 15-12 over Jameson Grant of Seymour.
Bantam B75 — Saylor Mullins finished second pinning Flynnleigh Bryant of Youth Cougars before losing to Kayden Mcculloch of Heritage Outlaws.
Midget M75 — Colten Anderson finished fourth. He pinned Noah Muncy of Lebanon Youth, beat Brody Boyd of Richlands 3-1, and lost round 3 to Sawyer Neece of Lebanon Youth. Anderson bounced back in the consolation semifinal to pin Gauge Young of KLAW in 56 seconds and lost the final round to Henry Beaudoin of Eastside.
Midget M-Hwt — Nolan Muncy finished first. He took down Jionny Nuevo of Alleghany in 26 seconds and Hudson Comstock of Hilltoppers in 58 seconds. In the final round, Muncy beat Jamison Smith of TNWA 8-5.
Junior J75 — Brody Jewell finished first by pinning four in a row: Jackson Merryman of E Town in 44 seconds, Tristan Inmon of Greenback in 27 seconds, Carson Gross of Youth Cougars in 50 seconds and Jimmy Barnett of Seymour in 42 seconds.
Junior J90 — Ayden Warren finished second pinning Blake Ratliff of Warhawks and Garrett Taylor of Powhatan, then winning 11-6 over Parker Welch of Smith Mountain. He lost the championship match to Elijah Maynard of Warhawks.
Junior J148 — Ian Mullins finished first by pinning four in a row and winning the fifth round 7-4. Mullins pinned Parker King of KLAW, Kindal Hall of Youth Cougars, Tate Weaver of Alleghany and Kaxton Robinson of Castlewood and beat Tyler Gonzalez by decision in the championship round.
Middle School MS90 — Jeremy Mollett finished first. He pinned Lochlan Walls of Hilltoppers, beat Bryson Chappel of Haywood 5-3, won in sudden victory-1 over Jacob Pope of Noke and pained Alliya Walker of Rural Retreat.
Middle School MS95 — Jeremy Mollett finished second. He pinned Matthew Giarla of Highlands and Nick Carroll of Vikings and won in sudden victory-1 over Gradyn Gibson of Rural Retreat. Mollett lost to Deter Thompson of TNWA in the championship round.
Middle School MS100 — Noah Bowen finished third. He pinned Nikolas Inmon of Greenback and lost to Tyson Williams of Dark Knight Wrestling. Bowen came back in the consolation round to pin Tucker Utley of Powhatan and Roy Fridley of Powhatan.
Middle School MS125 — Tyler Goble finished sixth. He pinned Julian Mullins of Vikings and Romeo Vargas-Perez of Alleghany before losing round 3 to Trenton Casto of TNWA, Joshua Huskey of Pigeon Forge MS and Evan Lee of Franklin County.
Middle School MS125 — James Bentley finished fourth. He lost the first round to Lucas Burnette of Seymour, pinned his next five opponents – Hunter Hileman of Castlewood, Julian Mullins of Vikings, Colten Clevinger of GWC, Aiden Hartsook of E Town and Evan Lee of Franklin County – and lost to Joshua Huskey of Pigeon Forge.
Middle School MS131 — Ashton “Parker” Maynard finished first by pinning four in a row. He took down Black Goodson of GWC in 42, Hector Sanchez of Diablos in 1:53, Leland Altizer of Machine Shed in 1:53 and Judson Beaver of Madison in 1.
Middle School MS160 — Cole Jewell finished third. He pinned Seth Blunt of Diablos in 1:30 before losing to Peyton Lomans of Vikings. Jewell won the next two rounds pinning Black Childress of GWC in 2:34 and Weston Alberry of KLAW in 26 seconds.
Middle School MS195 — Dylan Dye finished third.
Middle School MS220 — Brandon Wells finished second. He pinned Lane Crawford of Smoky Mountain Youth in 32 seconds and Spencer Miller of Vikings in 57 seconds before losing 4-3 to Konner Whitt of Divinity.