Thompson dominates Dalton Carpet Classic with four first-place finishes
Published 9:38 pm Monday, December 4, 2023
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
DALTON, GA – 13 turned out to be the Thompson Warriors’ lucky number on Saturday, Dec. 2 as the Warriors claimed 13 top-three finishes at the Dalton Carpet Classic in Dalton, Georgia.
Of those 13, four Thompson wrestlers claimed division wins, as Will Atkinson, Jordan Weltzin, Wyatt Massey and Avery Clark took home first-place finishes.
Atkinson won the 113-pound A division with two pins before a 9-0 major decision victory over Angel Castenado of Cass High School.
Weltzin claimed the 138-pound A division after starting the tournament with a major decision win before a pair of wins by first-period falls gave him the gold.
Massey took three straight wins by pin to take the 175-pound D division, with his final one coming at the 1:11 mark in the match against Greenbrier’s Nate Rank.
Clark won the 215-pound C division with a 4-3 decision win in the first round, a 43-second fall in the second round and a 9-0 major decision to close out the tournament in the third round.
Braylen Johnson came in second place in the 106-pound B division after taking a first-round win by a first period pin and scoring a 19-3 technical fall to advance to the third round.
Austin Owen placed second in the 126-pound A division. He won in the first round by a 5-3 decision, lost in the second round by way of a pin, but bounced back to defeat Greenbrier’s Carter Watson by a pin at 3:25.
Turner Hutson also walked away with a second-place finish, with this one coming in the 144-pound D division. Hutson won his opening match in 54 seconds with a pin, and then he came back from losing his second-round match to pin Will Love of Heritage with two seconds left in the first period.
Henry Betke came in second place of the 150-pound A division after he won his second and third round matches by way of pins.
Jaiden Moore finished second in the 157-pound D division, scoring pins in the second and third rounds to secure the runner-up finish.
Paxton Miller came in second place in the 165-pound B division thanks to two falls within the first minute of his opening pair of matches.
John Gann, Mitch McPhearson, and Marley Cholewinski all earned third-place finishes as each of them secured a win by way of a pin during the tournament.