LITTLE ROCK — O’Dell Lee took top honors in the 189-pound division to lead the Bryant Hornets to a fourth-place finish in the season-opening Classic In The Rock wrestling tournament at Little Rock Hall on Saturday, Dec. 5.
Bryant finished with 116 points. Along with Lee’s first-place finish, the Hornets had three second-place finishes and two fourth’s.
Little Rock Central won the meet with 204 points. Little Rock Catholic was second with 164, winning four divisions along the way. North Pulaski was third with 152. In all, 12 teams competed at the event.[more]
The Hornets’ second-place finishes were turned in by Chris Hendrix in the 285-pound classification, Jonathan Roberts in the 215-pound division and Brandon Powell in the 112-pound group.
Also scoring for the Hornets were Forrest Fowler, who was fourth in the 135-pound category, and Nick Philpott, fourth in the 152-pound division.
“Finishing fourth is a good start for our program but it not something we are satisfied with,” stated Hornets coach Elliot Jacobs. “We have four or five real good wrestlers but that leaves nine of 10 spots where people need to step in and produce.“Our main focus is getting ready for State in February, so we’ve started out good but must continue to improve week in and week out,” he added.
In junior varsity action, Bryant athletes won in three categories. James Jones was tops in the 215-pound group, Hunter Schelle won the 152-pound division and Harley Burks topped the 135-pound classification.Conner Goshien was second in the 140-pound division for the Hornets JV and Robby Holladay was second in the 285-pound group.
Bryant picked up third-place performances from Billy Ray Webb (189), Brett Blend (135), Sawyer Ivy (125) and Jose Garcia (112). Fourth-place points came from Kyle Rasdon (103), Caleb Thomas (135) and Levi Brady (189).
“Having seven JV wrestlters place is good,” Jacobs stated.
“And I cannot thank Kel Denker and Paul Mead enough for their time and effort,” he added regarding the team’s volunteer coaches. “They do this for free and we would not have a program without them.”
The Hornets were scheduled to wrestle at Cabot next on Thursday, Dec. 10.
