SOUTHERN PINES — The Scotland women’s wrestling team finished third out of four teams with 72 points, while Scotland’s men came in fourth out of seven with 72 1/2 at Saturday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament, hosted by Pinecrest.
Hoke County won the women’s tournament with 167 points, and Union Pines took the men’s title with 250.
The Lady Scots had four wrestlers in the top two of their weight class. Carina Ammens was the lone Lady Scot to place first; she received a bye in the first and second rounds of the 185-pound weight class before getting a 6-4 decision over Pinecrest’s Rae Thrower in the third round.
Scotland’s Dawson Blue (132), Carmin Moore (145) and Shyanne White (152) were second-place finishers in their class. Blue pinned Union Pines’ Olivia Wesner and Pinecrest’s Audrey Johnson in the first two rounds but lost by pin to Hoke County’s Kierra Rush in the third; Moore lost via a 12-7 decision to Union Pines’ Abigail Pursley, then received a bye before earning a 4-2 decision over Hoke County’s Zada English and White pinned Union Pines’ Bianca Brooks in 15 seconds, was pinned by Hoke County’s Jazzmyn Kessey then received a last-round bye.
Caydence Deese and Shayleigh Ward finished in third at 120 and 138 for the Lady Scots. After being pinned by Union Pines’ LiliAnn Blair, Deese pinned Pinecrest’s Abbie Enloe before being pinned again by Hoke County’s Jianna Gomez; Ward was pinned by Pinecrest’s Piper Godsey and Hoke County’s Jada Lebron in the first and third rounds and received a second-round bye.
Rounding out Scotland’s women in fourth was Minnie Locklear. Locklear’s only win was by pin against Hoke County’s Harley Hardin in the second round; in the other two rounds, Locklear was pinned by Union Pines’ Gabriella Bumgardner and Pinecrest’s Leila Padua.
Scotland’s men had six top-four wrestlers in their classes. Thomas Salinas was Scotland’s highest placer, coming in second at 144; Salinas pinned Lee County’s Rylan Thomas in the quarterfinals and Richmond’s Adam Estridge in the semifinals but lost by pin to Union Pines’ Finnius McCafferty in the first-place match.
Coming in third for Scotland were Anthony Pate (150) and Joshua Stone (285). Pate lost just one match — a semifinal pin to Hoke County’s Cedric Griffin Jr.; Pate pinned Pinecrest’s Brett Finn in the quarterfinals and third-place match and won by forfeit in the consolation semifinals against Lee County’s Jayah McCorkle. Stone took a quarterfinal win by forfeit over Southern Lee’s Carlos Sosa, was pinned by Richmond’s Demonte Martin in the semifinals and pinned Pinecrest’s Duncan Obst and Union Pines’ Chayden Hardy in the consolation semifinals and third-place match.
In their third-place bouts, Scotland’s Josh Smith (106) and Vinny Butera (215) lost by 7-4 and 7-1 decisions to Pinecrest’s Jimmy Araujo and Union Pines’ Dantrell Williams and Jhaere Banks (165) lost by pin to Hoke County’s Orion Becton to finish fourth. Smith had byes in the quarterfinals and consolation semifinals and was pinned by Union Pines’ Nathan Maness in the semifinals; Butera pinned Pinecrest’s Davin Morris in his quarterfinal match but was pinned in the semifinals by Hoke County’s Geronimo Oxendine and had a bye in the next round and Banks’ quarterfinal bout resulted in a technical fall over Lee County’s Matthew Thomas, but he lost by pin in the semifinals to Pinecrest’s Cooper Ogden before getting a pin against Southern Lee’s Diego Badillo in the consolation semifinals.
Scotland’s Brayden Richardson (120), Darius West (126), Donerio Graham (132), Devin Ellerbe (157) and Wyatt Locklear (190) did not place after reaching the consolation semifinals but losing.
The 3A Mideast Regional is next for Scotland; the women’s regional is Feb. 2-3 at Jack Britt in Fayetteville, and the men’s is Feb. 9-10 at Union Pines in Cameron. Individual qualifiers will be announced in the coming days.