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DEL.ICIO.USPound-for-Pound: The ajc.com All-State wrestling team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s that time of year again, where the staff at Pound-for-Pound sifts through the state champions to come up with the best of the best. Here’s ajc.com’s Second Annual All-State Wrestling Team.
First team
103 pounds — Bazell Partridge, sophomore, Collins Hill. Class AAAAA champion goes from junior varsity team in 2008 to 49-4 sophomore campaign.
112 — Brian St. James, junior, Centennial. Finalist last season goes a step farther with a dominant 60-1 season.
119 — T.J. Mitchell, junior, Collins Hill. Second state title, first in Class AAAAA, for one of the state’s finest.
125 — Acton Pifer, junior, Lassiter. Won first state championship and finished 46-4.
130 — Brandon Westerman, senior, McEachern. Third four-time state champion in Class AAAAA history capped a 192-12 career.
135 — Joey Lazor, senior, Union Grove. Last loss was as a sophomore in the state finals, Lazor won his second state title in 2009 and finished the year 65-0.
140 — Joel Smith, junior, Collins Hill. Perhaps the state’s top wrestler, phenomenal athlete won first state crown and finished unbeaten in Georgia.
145 — Alex Hudson, senior, Sprayberry. Three consecutive state titles for the Tennessee-Chattanooga commitment.
152 — Gary Tiller, senior, Collins Hill. Battled injuries all season to claim Class AAAAA state title after taking three-timer Josh Condon to the wire in 2008 final.
160 — Taylor Knapp, senior, Collins Hill. One of five Eagles wrestlers to not lose in Georgia as the Virginia Tech commitment rolled to his third state title.
171 — Jack Roberts, senior, Union Grove. Brown commitment completed a 64-2 season with impressive run in state tournament.
189 — Ethan Blackstock, junior, Alexander. Continued to establish himself as one of the state’s finest, winning his second consecutive state crown in a 49-1 season.
215 — Derrick Laney, junior, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe. One of the most impressive wrestlers inside Gwinnett Arena for the second consecutive season, won second title and completed 46-0 campaign.
285 — Hunter Chumley, senior, Cherokee. Surprise Class AAAAA heavyweight champion finished the year 43-3.
Second team
103 — Cason Thurmond, sophomore, Jefferson. Finished 49-7 in winning second consecutive state championship.
112 — Chris Mann, senior, Holy Innocents’. Won Class A state championship, his first, and finished year 47-3.
119 — Kevin Ulmer, junior, Effingham County. Finished 66-6 in winning Class AAAA title to help Rebels win first team wrestling championship.
125 — Evan Warrington, senior, Henry County. Three-time state champion and four-time finalist; won 84 matches in 2009.
130 — Joe Denova, junior, Harris County. Transferred from Columbus late in the season and won second consecutive state title.
135 — Bryan Benton, senior, Toombs County. Four-time champion had one of the toughest matches in finals, outlasting Jefferson’s Cam Thurmond, a two-time champion. Benton finished his career 215-11.
140 — Trevor Bailey, senior, Eastside. Runner-up last season, Bailey gets gold in 2009, completing a 35-1 season.
145 — Jonathan Rivera, sophomore, Kennesaw Mountain. By season’s end stood out as favorite in Class AAAAA and didn’t disappoint, winning his first state championship during 63-8 season.
152 — Wade Farrow, senior, Swainsboro. Gets the nod partly for his upset of three-time champion Jay Fowler of Jefferson in Class AA final. 46-1 season didn’t hurt.
160 — Anthony Fretwell, senior, Henry County. Finished season with single-season state record of 85 wins; second consecutive state crown.
171 — Derick Wojcik, junior, Sandy Creek and Terrance Gaddy, junior, Clarkston. Most difficult decision we had to make so we chickened out: Wojcik upset unbeaten defending champion Jacob Williamson of Whitewater to win first state title in Class AAAA, while Gaddy completed second consecutive undefeated season with Class AAA title.
189 — Sam Kuntz, senior, Peachtree Ridge. The Rutgers commitment settled the argument of who was the better Class AAAAA 189-pounder, nipping Walton’s Jeff Olsen in an overtime thriller to win his first state title.
215 — Demery Hawkins, senior, Toombs County. Four-time finalist won second Class AA state title and finished with a 32-1 record.
285 — Chase Duke, senior, Heritage. Class AAA champion finished 52-2.
Permalink | Comments (31) | Post your comment | Categories: Pound For Pound
Comments
By Mr Wrestling 2
March 4, 2009 8:41 PM | Link to this
How can a guy (Evan Warrington) win 84 matches this year, reach the finals for a fourth straight year and win his third straight state title get second team behind some guy that apparently doesn’t have the same type of resume for this season and previous ones. That one makes no sense, is it because the other guy is from Cobb County and Warrington is from the southside?
By Bill
March 5, 2009 1:49 AM | Link to this
You have the hyphen in the wrong place on Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe. It should be after Lakeview, not Fort. Lakeview and Fort O are two different communities.
By LFO
March 5, 2009 8:50 AM | Link to this
Derrick Laney is only a Jr.
By Darryl Fielding
March 5, 2009 8:53 AM | Link to this
How can Quenton Carter from Dublin 2 time defending state champ not be on your all-state team ?
By Alex Knappen
March 5, 2009 9:36 AM | Link to this
Pifer beat warrington earlier in the year he would have gone far at state last year but got injured before the region tournament
By Heritage
March 5, 2009 9:48 AM | Link to this
wheres hopkins in these lists rivera placed 4th in the mccallie tournament and hopkins placed 2nd. hopkins didnt lose to anyone in georgia and finished the year as a 2 timer with a record of 55-1
By shut up
March 5, 2009 9:51 AM | Link to this
Quenton Carter would have gotten 4th in AAAAA, and BSJ lost to Dyar from Alabama, not in the Spencerport, NY tournament. He won the NY tournament by fall in the finals.
By shut up
March 5, 2009 9:52 AM | Link to this
Roswell State Runner-up Adam Wilson beat Chris Mann
By wrestleguy
March 5, 2009 9:57 AM | Link to this
Joel Smith State’s top wrestler???? ummm no that honor would be Lazor or Knapp!
By Wrestler91
March 5, 2009 10:58 AM | Link to this
“How can a guy (Evan Warrington) win 84 matches this year, reach the finals for a fourth straight year and win his third straight state title get second team behind some guy that apparently doesn’t have the same type of resume for this season and previous ones. That one makes no sense, is it because the other guy is from Cobb County and Warrington is from the southside? ” maybe it is because pifer beat warrington very convincingly when they wrestled
By Clayco1
March 5, 2009 11:34 AM | Link to this
171lb Gaddy from Clarkston defeated Wojcik of Sandy Creek @ the Wildcat Rumble this year.
By Nick
March 5, 2009 12:17 PM | Link to this
Because pifer beat warrington this year, that is why he got the nod
By marty hutsell
March 5, 2009 12:27 PM | Link to this
warrington.. was injured in the match verses pifer and even during that match very quetionable call against warrington. warrington wrestled all year on one leg soon to have surgery.. warrington,s record 278 wins speaks for its self.. bad call ajc..
By roughingit
March 5, 2009 12:55 PM | Link to this
You need to move Knapp to 152 and Fretwell to 160 - that would increase the strength of this team.
By Scout
March 5, 2009 1:00 PM | Link to this
Evan’s knee only hurt when he was losing or needed to catch his breath. There is nothing wrong with that kids knee. He wont make it one week in college.
By tim laney
March 5, 2009 1:12 PM | Link to this
The correct name is Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe. The old school was Lakeview. Around the school, we simply use L.F.O. or Lakeview.
By marty hutsell
March 5, 2009 1:35 PM | Link to this
ok scout were not talking about college u must have been one of his 278 victims.. call me..
By JLanier
March 5, 2009 1:47 PM | Link to this
Quenton Carter had as good a shot at winning AAAAA as he did AA. Demery Hawkins from Toombs only loss on the season came to Carter. Scruggs from Valdosta who won AAAAA lost two this year, one to Carter.
By drsmp
March 5, 2009 1:54 PM | Link to this
Pifer did not wrestle at state last year as he was recovering from appendicitis surgery.Warrington had two losses this year-Pifer (1st 5A)and Allgood (3rd 5A).Coach H if you feel that the the takedown and 3 back points that Pifer scored against Warrington were questionable you may want to review your tapes and rulebook.I would totally agree that Warrington has had a stellar career but Pifer geat him fair and square at Whitewater and won a much tougher bracket to get the 5A state title
By knarkill
March 5, 2009 3:21 PM | Link to this
Great job Kurt, thanks for the coverage. See you March 15th.
By clemsonroll
March 5, 2009 8:06 PM | Link to this
It is a shame that Joel from Westminster did not get second team all state. No one can claim he matched the state tournament that Chumley had. However, he finished his senior season with only one lose to a defending state champ, pinned his way into the finals of state and went on to win a thrilling OT match in the finals.
By Lazyman90
March 5, 2009 9:10 PM | Link to this
How did Barnhill from effingham not get 2nd team? 3 time state placer, State champion, and won one of the hardest weigh classes at state!
By barnhill? ha
March 5, 2009 9:59 PM | Link to this
ha! Barnhill!?!?! the top 8 guys in AAAAA would p** on Barnhill! BSJ, Wilson, Isburgh, Sawchuck, Nickels, Mosher, Hererra, Kane
By barnhill? ha
March 5, 2009 10:00 PM | Link to this
ha! Barnhill!?!?! the top 8 guys in AAAAA would p** on Barnhill! BSJ, Wilson, Isburgh, Sawchuck, Nickels, Mosher, Hererra, Kane
By THLWRESTLER
March 5, 2009 11:12 PM | Link to this
You guys who are on Pifer Nu**s need to get off em.. and pick the pubes out of your teeth. Warrington would techfall Pifer in a second match with his healthy leg. And guarantee warrington would of won 5a as well. The AJC is known for being all over 5a anyway so what can be expected? Get some of the guys such as warrington and fretwell in 5a and i bet there will still be some records broken!!!!
By judoman
March 5, 2009 11:20 PM | Link to this
Gaddy did beat wojcik 1-0 but derek threw gaddy on his back ref blew that call, but hey give him his due but Derek beat Jack Roberts who was on the 1st team??????????????? score 9-4 judoman
By THLWRESTLER
March 5, 2009 11:30 PM | Link to this
and im sorry but somebody tell me how the H* can somebody from holy innocents be on any list. I mean come on guys! Id like to see Barnhill and Mann. or has that happened? If so let me know. but my opinion Barnhill Pin in 1:28
By Kenny Powers
March 6, 2009 12:17 AM | Link to this
Evan may not have made the All-State 1st team, but he is a Gold metalist in swimming for that Dive he took vs Pifer!
That’s was what we call gettin’ that a* THUMPED!! and not wantin’ anymore.
Good call with Pifer.
By john
March 10, 2009 3:15 PM | Link to this
are you serious? AAAA 112 is way better than AAAAA 112 all top 6 AAAAA 112s Barnhill, khan,blue,white,abrahamsen,and belete would kick Wilson, Isburgh, Sawchuck, Nickels, Mosher, Hererra, Kane asses
By ssss
March 10, 2009 3:18 PM | Link to this
yeah AAAA 112 beats AAAAA overall
By 112
March 11, 2009 2:35 AM | Link to this
well, it doesn’t make a difference what anyone says about the 112’s because Brian St. James is better than every one.