ELIZABETHTON – Local wrestlers had a strong showings on Saturday at the Section 1-A Tournament at T.A Dugger Middle School with 11 advancing to the state tournament and four claiming section championships.
Greeneville’s Carson Dupil (120), Hunter Mason (145), Colin Dupil (152) and Morgan Lowery (195) all finished the day on the top of the podium while eight total Greeneville wrestlers and three more West Greene Buffaloes earned Class A State Tournament berths.
“I feel like we wrestled pretty well today, we brought nine kids here and eight of them are going to state,” Greeneville coach Randy Shelton said. “I’m proud of these kids. Sometimes it’s hard to lose early and have to fight back to get into that third-place match. For some of our young guys going down there and seeing (the state tournament) is the first step, and for some of the older guys they have big goals of their own.”
Lowery’s section championship comes one year after he had to watch the state tournament because an elbow injury ended what could have been a promising season. He has worked his way back into top form as a senior and on Saturday he dominated his bracket.
Lowery earned three pins in the section, first dropping Matthew Cook of Halls. Next it was David Hopkins who fell in just 22 seconds, and in the championship match it took Lowery 1:01 to put Gibbs’ Cameron Norman on his back.
“Morgan suffered a really bad injury over Christmas last year, but he is back and gunning to be a state champion,” Greeneville coach Randy Shelton said. “When you have an injury like that it takes time to trust that elbow again, but has shown up and worked hard at practice. He has done the little things to get himself back.”
Greeneville’s other three section champions are defending state champions, and they wrestled like it on Saturday, even while drawing the best effort from everyone who took the mat against them.
“One of the reasons we travel to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and all over is to find the toughest matches,” Shelton said. “In those tournaments you always have a target on your back, and these guys have grown used to that.”
Mason, a three-time state champion and Virginia Tech signee, will look to become Greeneville’s second four-time state champion after Kodiak Cannedy accomplished the feat last year.
On Saturday Mason started his tournament with a pin of Clinton’s Matson Kent in 37 seconds. He then picked up an impressive 19 points in the first period for a 19-4 technical fall of Knox Central’s Caleb Crawley. In the finals he pushed Halls Trevor Sexton all over the mat on the way to a 23-4 technical fall just 28 seconds into the second period.
Carson Dupil spent a total of 1:44 on the mat on Saturday with pins in 50 seconds, 26 seconds and 28 seconds. In the finals he hoisted Gabe Miller of Elizabethton skyward and then hammered him to the mat. Almost as soon as Miller touched the ground Dupil had him pinned.
“Carson had a really tough match against that kid in the region finals last week. He kind of was looking for a statement win, and he got it with a pin,” Shelton said.
Colin Dupil, who will be trying to win his second state championship in Tennessee after winning two in Virginia before coming to Greeneville, also made light work of his bracket. The future South Dakota State Jackrabbit earned first period pins in his first two matches. Then in the finals Halls’ Barrett Whaley stood no chance and ended up on the short end of a 16-1 technical fall.
“The kid Colin faced was ranked fourth in the state, and he wanted to show that he was deserving of his number one ranking,” Shelton said.
After Saturday’s action was complete Carson Dupil was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler for the lower weight classes and Colin Dupil was named the Outstanding Wrestler for the upper weight classes.
West Greene’s Roger Marshall (220) also advanced to the section finals on Saturday. He earned a 10-8 overtime win over Gibbs’ Luke Tidwell to get to the finals where he was pinned by Halls’ Bull Goodman.
West Greene’s Hunter Gregg (170) placed third on Saturday and Jeffery Hawk (138) placed fourth as both earned trips to the state tournament.
For Greeneville Gabe Oakley (103) and Christian Feltner (285) both earned third-place finishes, and Josue Castillo (126) and Angus Herrell (170) both came in fourth place. All four will also be competing in the state tournament.
The Class A State Tournament will be held February 23-25 at the Williamson County Expo Center in Franklin.
