Tyler Consolidated’s Sean Winfrey competes during the Little Kanawha Conference Championships earlier this season at Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)
PARKERSBURG — The road to the state wrestling tournament for Class AA/A programs gets underway today and in some cases will continue into Saturday as teams compete in their respective regionals.
Region I action is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. today inside the Fairmont Senior Fieldhouse with action resuming at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Little Kanawha Conference champions Kaden Huffman (113) and Trenton Huffman (160) of Tyler Consolidated have earned No. 3 and No. 2 seeds, respectively.
The top four placers in each regional will advance to Huntington next month.
The only area top-seed in Region I is St. Marys 220-pound junior Cody Houser. Blue Devil heavyweight teammate Ben Wagstaff has a two seed.
“Meat grinder as always,” admitted SMHS head mat coach Jay D. Smith of what to expect this weekend.
“Lots of kids we haven’t seen or bumped weight classes to get their kids to Huntington.”
The only other area wrestlers in Region I with a No. 2 seed are Silver Knights — 182-pounder Sean Winfrey and 220-pounder Case Landis.
The Region II tournament will start at noon today with wrestling continuing at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Lewis County.
Braxton County, which won its fifth consecutive LKC championship, has top seeds in Blayne Jarvis (138), Jackson Davis (160) and Colton Moore (195). Jarvis and Moore were LKC champs along with teammates Logan Bennett (152, No. 3 seed), Bryson Spell (170, No. 2), Bryce Leegan (182, No. 3), Justin Bishop (220, No. 2) and heavyweight Ryder McLaughlin (No. 3).
The only other LKC champ competing in Region II is Clay County 120-pounder Zane Minger, who is seeded second.
Other top seeds from the LKC include a quartet of Panthers from Clay County in Bratton Samples (113), 170-pounder Geno Sams, 220-pounder Noah Casto and heavyweight Ethan Morris as well as Ritchie County 145-pound sophomore Tristen Ginanni.
Doddridge County’s Riley Curran, a 31-1 junior, is joined as a second seed by Eagle Anthony Currence (126), Rebel Kodi Camp (138) and Roane County’s Lane Watson (145).
Starting at 10 a.m. today inside the Jackson County Armory in Millwood is the one day Region IV tournament.
Point Pleasant is once again the heavy favorite for head coach John Bonecutter.
Wirt County 145-pounder Kolton Parsons, the LKC’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, will join fellow conference champions Ashton Wasmer of Williamstown at 106 and Jett Sampson of Calhoun County at 126 in the field. Brackets for the Region IV tournament were not released as of presstime.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
Class AA/A Regional Wrestling
Region I at Fairmont Senior Fieldhouse
2:30 p.m. Friday/10:30 a.m. Saturday
AREA TOP FOUR SEEDS
113: #3 Kaden Huffman (Tyler) SO
126: #3 Lucas Zombotti (Magnolia) JR; #4 Jasup Spragg (P. City) SR
132: #4 Branson Winfrey (Tyler) FR
152: #3 Jordan Davis (Magnolia) JR
160: #2 Trenton Huffman (Tyler) JR; #3 Peyton Girard (St. Marys) JR
182: #2 Sean Winfrey (Tyler) SO
220: #1 Cody Houser (St. Marys) JR; #2 Case Landis (Tyler) SR
285: #2 Ben Wagstaff (St. Marys) SO; #3 Raustyn Wade (Tyler) JR
Region II at Lewis County
Noon, Friday noon; 10 a.m. Saturday
AREA TOP FOUR SEEDS
106: #3 Levi Holbert (Roane) 19-9 SO
113: #1 Bratton Samples (Clay) 21-8 SO; #3 Braden Helmick (Braxton) 20-17 SO
120: #2 Zane Minger (Clay) 38-7 SO; #3 Tyson Pena (Roane) 18-13 SO
126: #2 Anthony Currence (Braxton) 23-18 JR; #3 Sam Richards (Roane) 22-9 SR
132: #2 Riley Curran (Doddridge) 31-1 JR; #3 Russell May (Roane) 26-9 SR
138: #1 Blayne Jarvis (Braxton) 33-4 SO; #2 Kodi Camp (Ritchie) 31-4 JR; #3 Eli Evans (S. Harrison) 11-6 SR
145: #1 Tristen Ginanni (Ritchie) 26-6 SO; #2 Lane Watson (Roane) 17-7 FR
152: #3 Logan Bennett (Braxton) 32-5 JR; #4 Shadraq Greathouse (Roane) 20-11 SR
160: #1 Jackson Davis (Braxton) 30-11 JR
170: #1 Geno Sams (Clay) 28-8 JR; #2 Bryson Spell (Braxton) 19-9 SR; #3 Dylan Knight (Doddridge) 3-1 SR
182: #3 Bryce Leegan (Braxton) 29-6 JR
195: #1 Colton Moore (Braxton) 33-3 SR
220: #1 Noah Casto (Clay) 31-4 JR; #2 Justin Bishop (Braxton) 21-12 JR; #4 Justin Mace (Doddridge) 22-8 SR
285: #1 Ethan Morris (Clay) 22-11 JR; #3 Ryder McLaughlin (Braxton) 28-9 JR; #4 Adam Burnside (Doddridge) 24-3 JR
Region IV – at Jackson County Armory (Millwood)
10 a.m. Friday