LITTLE ROCK — Senior Brandon Powell advanced to the finals in the 120-pound weight class while[more] O’Dell Lee and Levi Brady each made it to the semifinals in their respective divisions to highlight the first day of the 2012 Arkansas High School Wrestling championships for the Bryant Hornets at UALR on Saturday.
The trio was set to continue their bids for individual State titles today.
Powell, after receiving a first-round bye defeated Christian Stevens of Rogers Heritage in the second round with a pin at the :30 mark. In the quarterfinals, he won by decision over Fayetteville’s Alex Baysinger. And with a decision over John Lueken of Little Rock Central in the semifinals, Powell advanced to today’s championship match.
Lee, a defending State champion wrestling in the 195-pound class, received an opening bye then pinned Shane Yang of Fayetteville at the :45 mark. In the quarterfinals, he pinned Jordan Vazquez of Rogers Heritage with :23 left.
Brady also received an opening bye in the 170-pound class. He then pinned Springdale’s Diego Herrera at the 2:16 mark to reach the quarterfinals. There, he pinned Michael Volpe of Catholic at 5:21.
The Hornets had five other wrestlers reach the quarterfinals. In the 160-pound division, Connor Goshien won a second-round match with a pin at the 1:00 mark over Benton’s Chris Giblin. In the quarterfinals, Goshien lost by decision to Springdale Har-Ber’s Garrett Comer. But he came back to win the consolation match over Springdale’s Kali Marty with a pin at 1:53.
At 132, Zach Simmons won a second-round match over Christopher Lindsey of North Little Rock with a pin at 1:45. He then lost a decision to Russellville’s Douglas Pehrson in the quarterfinals. Simmons came back in the consolation match to defeat Jonesboro’s Beau McCarty by technical fall.
Brett Blend, wrestling at 145, reached the quarterfinals by pinning Tucker Mann of Central at 1:22. He then fell by decision to Fayetteville’s Deshun Thomas but came back to win the consolation match over Colton Stewart of Heritage by decision.
Drew Allen, wrestling for the Hornets in the 220 pound class, pinned Daniel Barientos of Springdale at 1:32 to reach the quarterfinals where David Fulford of Conway won with a pin at :27. In the consolation match, Fort Smith Southside’s Tanner Thompson got a pin to win with :14 to go.
At 182, Colton Caviness reached the quarterfinals by default but was then pinned by undefeated champion Lucas Ardemagni of Van Buren by pin at 1:31. In the consolation round, Cole Penny of Heritage pinned Caviness right at the end of time.
In addition, Chris Baldwin won a consolation match by decision over Zach Iban of Springdale in the 138-pound division. Matt Mears and Ben Freeman competed for the Hornets as well. Mears lost in the second round to Tyler Mann of Central then fell by decision to Bentonville’s Andrew Schuler in the consolation bracket. Freeman was pinned by Har-Ber’s Dylan Collins in the 113-pound division. In the consolation match, Bentonville’s Tony Ellis won by technical fall.
