VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Wheatmore’s Ayden Sumners made the longest run in the championship bracket and Trinity’s Stephen Cross won the most matches among Randolph County wrestlers in the National High School Coaches Association’s national tournament that wrapped up during the weekend at Virginia Beach Sports Center.
Sumners reached the 126-pound quarterfinals for juniors. He won four matches, defeating opponents from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and California before falling in the quarterfinals by 10-2 to Chazz Robinson of Indiana.
Sumners, an unbeaten state champion, was ousted in a 5-2 defeat to Andrew Bonita, a state champion from New Jersey. Robinson finished fifth and Bonita was sixth.
Cross went 6-2 at 120 pounds for sophomores. After an opening victory and a loss, he won five consecutive bouts in the consolation bracket before falling.
In the same division, Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Paxton Kearns was 2-2.
** Joseph Trahan of Trinity went 3-2 in the 285-pound division for seniors. He had pins against wrestlers from Georgia and Iowa, and he also pinned Aiden Frank of Mount Airy in the consolation bracket.
Trahan’s losses came by 13-5 to Blake Elder of Florida in the round of 32 and via pin to Avery Rhymer of Saint Stephens in his third consolation match. Rhymer finished as an All-American in eighth place.
Trahan was an undefeated state champion during the past season.
** Trinity, the Class 3A state champion, had numerous other entrants.
Jeven Palmeri, in the 106 division for sophomores, lost an opening match before three consecutive victories. He ended at 3-2.
Junior 113-pounder Aiden Burkholder went 1-2 with three decisions, losses to entrants from Virginia and Florida after opening with a victory against a Kentucky wrestler.
Junior Omega Edge dropped two matches at 138. Freshman Anees Khan was 0-2 at 182 and Grayson Carroll fell by a pair of pins at 182 for sophomores.
** UCA junior 120-pounder Paxton Kearns was 2-2. UCA’s Andrew White in the 126 division for sophomores lost both matches.
Providence Grove sophomore 120-pounder Jeremiah Payne lost twice.
** UCA’s Riley White, a state champion, was 3-2 in the girls’ 132 division.
