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Black Bears impress again at North Knight Invitational

tyler auffhammer, the mountaineer, waynesville, n.c.
·4 min read

Dec. 5—It was just another day at the office for the Pisgah wrestling crew, who took the North Knight Invitational by storm with a 191.50-point victory over 17 other teams on Nov. 22 in Hendersonville.

Two boys — 157-pound Xander Hill and 285-pound Eli Frizzell — won their weight class championships. Two others nabbed third-place finishes.

"I thought we wrestled better than we did the week before against much stouter competition," Pisgah head coach Ryan Gibson said. "Still not quite where we want to be, but we're slowly starting to get there. We made some mistakes and lost a few matches that I felt we could've won. They're getting there. That just takes time."

One of the champions, Eli Frizzell, had a big turnaround after a misstep in the last go-around.

"Eli had a great tournament," Gibson said. "I was tickled to death for him to bounce back from a third-place finish to win a tournament.".

The day was not without some top competition, which Gibson has said helps the boys prepare for big matches at regionals.

"Some kids wrestled really tough kids. Kane (Bryson) lost to a kid from Science Hill, who I would say is probably projected to win the state of Tennessee. That was one back-and-forth match, so that was a good match to have early. (Landon) Pope lost to the state runner-up from Brevard. That was a close match," Gibson said.

One big change for this season is a new rule that allows each team to place two wrestlers in a weight class, although only one will count for team points.

"That helps us catch up with the states around us because they're getting varsity matches and helps fill out brackets. I love the rule. We had some new guys step into the lineup and get some wins," Gibson said.

Jonathan Chapman was one of those kids. At 128 pounds, Chapman fought to a second-place finish. Another was Clay Hatten, who finished fifth and only lost one match.

"You've got two kids finishing in the top eight, which happened in a few weight classes. It was a good opportunity for us to get on a mat and get a lot of matches at a local tournament," Gibson said.

Boys results:

106-Pound 5th Place Match: Walker Henline (Pisgah) over Luke Brown (T.C. Roberson) (Fall 0:46)

113-Pound 5th Place Match: Christian Gibson (Pisgah) over Liam Perry (Watauga) (Dec 13-10)

120-Pound 1st Place Match: Hampton Higdon (James F Byrnes) over Kail Burnette (Pisgah) (MD 13-3)

126-Pound 1st Place Match: Chase Smalling (Science Hill) over Kane Bryson (Pisgah) (Dec 9-6)

132-Pound 3rd Place Match: Cruz-Reyes Jacob (Pisgah) over Logan McMinn (North Henderson) (Fall 5:38)

138-Pound 1st Place Match: Conner Beaudin (James F Byrnes) over Johnathon Chapman (Pisgah) (TF 19-3 4:37)

144-Pound Round 3: Kavan Wilson (Smoky Mountain) over Camden Yawn (Pisgah) (TF 17-2 3:43)

150-Pound 7th Place Match: Tyson Silver (Pisgah) over Carlo Colombo (Brevard) (Fall 2:56)

157-Pound 1st Place Match: Xander Hill (Pisgah) over Tony Delgado (West Henderson) (Fall 1:58)

165-Pound 3rd Place Match: Palmer Smith (Watauga) over Levi Early (Pisgah) (Fall 5:28)

175-Pound 7th Place Match: Jaxon Bautista (Pisgah) over Colin Fowler (T.C. Roberson) (For.)

190-Pound 1st Place Match: Ray Laney (Brevard) over Landon Pope (Pisgah) (Dec 4-1)

215-Pound 3rd Place Match: Tytus Bridges (Pisgah) over Kevin Saldana (Hendersonville) (Dec 9-4)

285-Pound 1st Place Match: Eli Frizzell (Pisgah) over Donnie Hebenstreit (Smoky Mountain) (Fall 3:45)

Girls finish fifth

The Pisgah girls' wrestling team, meanwhile, finished fifth in only their second tournament of the season.

"It was a great opportunity for those girls to get matches," Gibson said. "In Western North Carolina, North Henderson and Swain County just have a jump on everybody. It was a good opportunity for them to see those girls from North (Henderson)."

Paloma Ramirez was the standout in the girls' division, defeating Smoky Mountain's Shaylee Temple to win the 165-pound weight class championship. Aiyana Bryant placed second to North Henderson's Gracie Short, and Kayla Figgins placed third.

"I was happy with the way Paloma performed. I was tickled to death with Kayla and Aiyana wrestling tough," Gibson said. "We're still making some mistakes, which is to be expected. They're not quite as experienced as I'd like them to be. That's one of those situations where they'll learn as we hone our skills better."

Girls results:

100-Pound 1st Place Match: Gracie Short (North Henderson) over Aiyana Bryant (Pisgah) (Fall 1:01)

120-Pound 3rd Place Match: Annaleigh Tinoco (North Henderson) over Treyleigh Miller (Pisgah) (Fall 3:14)

145-Pound 3rd Place Match: Kayla Figgins (Pisgah) over Sarafina Blackwell (Hendersonville) (Dec 9-5)

165-Pound 1st Place Match: Celia (Paloma) Ramirez (Pisgah) over Shaylee Temple (Smoky Mountain) (Fall 2:00)

235-Pound Quarterfinals: Ariana Flores (North Henderson) over Kenzie Mason (Pisgah) (Fall 1:06)

Pisgah hosts its first meet, a tri-meet against Brevard and Rosman, at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 6, in Canton. The Black Bears then host THE NATION Callout Duals at 10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 9.