This past weekend’s Harrison-sponsored tournaments represented a great success for the Harrison Top Dog Wrestling Club. Over 20 total wrestlers competed in Saturday’s Top Dog tournament and Sunday’s Rookie Tournament. Both tournaments included wrestlers from local, regional and national clubs. In short, the competition was stiff and our Top Dog wrestlers held their own…and then some.

On Saturday, Top Dog wrestlers Peter Koch and Cooper Sutton earned medals against a extremely challenging field. Peter earned a Bronze in the 12 & Under 85# class that included state finalists from Alabama and Tennessee. Cooper came within six points of a Gold medal in the 6 & Under 43# class, losing the final bout in a closely contested title match, 12-6.
Also competing in the Top Dog tournament were Timothy and Thomas Koch, who fought hard and gained some great experience against seasoned competition; Jacob Sciortino, who showed significant improvement while facing-off with a state finalist from Tennessee; and Jon Magel, who wrestled the defending Tennessee state champion and the Southeast Greco runner-up from 2008. Jon wrestled three times against a tough competitor and showed marked improvement in each bout.

In Sunday’s Rookie Tournament, Harrison wrestlers made a statement with key placements in several weight classes. Remi Adams took Gold in the 6 & Under 47# class, while Elijah Hooks (6 & Under 49#), Luke Beverly (8 & Under 58#), Jelani Hooks (8 & Under 61#), Kyle Hartline (6 & Under 55#), Adler Dollerschell (8 & Under 75#) and Jacob Krueger (12 & Under 65#) all took a Silver medal. Jarrod Pominville took Bronze after dropping a close match 8-6 in the final bout against teammate Kyle Hartline. And Trevor Krier was mere points from a Bronze, but settled for 4th place in the 14 & Under 110# class.
Great job and many kudos to all of our wrestlers for a job well done. We’re excited to get back into the wrestling room next week to keep working toward more medals and dual meet success.

Two youth wrestlers competed Saturday morning in the qualifier for the youth state tournament in Lafayette, Georgia. Coach Nick, along with a special appearance from Head Coach Tom Fiacco, rallied our boys to an impressive 3rd and fifth place finish.

Jennings Curd placed third in the 10 under 95lb weight class.  Any wrestler who places in the top 4 of one of 6 regional qualifiers receive a bid to the youth state tournament held March 15 at Whitewater High School in Fayetteville.  Dawson Tucker came one place short of qualifying in the 8 & Under 55lb weight class with a 5th place finish.  The afternoon session will feature our middle school wrestlers.

Coach Fiacco has created a new group of Hoyas, the Jr. Wrestlettes, who will have similar responsibilities and obligations as to the counterparts at the high school level.  Coach Fiacco has named Melissa Rickman as the Jr. Wrestlerette sponsor.  This year’s squad is small but very strong.  This year’s members are Alexis Rickman (6th), Madison Williams (6th ),  Alyssa Condon (7th), Mallory Mifflin (4th), Stacey Kalakay (4th), and Kylee Law (7th).  This first year has been a learning one as each of the girls are first year wrestlerettes.  The girls’ main events this season were the middle school and youth’s three home hosted tournaments (Top Dog, Top Dog Rookie, and Cobb county Championships).  In addition, the girls worked with the high school squad at several varsity duals and tournaments.  We look forward to even a better season next year.  Great work girls!