LaGrange wrestlers bring home the titles
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 15, 2015
CARROLLTON – He was ready for the rematch.
On Dec. 5, LaGrange High’s Guy Wegienka and Heard County’s Andrew Cannon faced off in the Granger Duals, and it was Cannon coming away with a victory with a pin.
Seven days later, those same two men were locking horns in the 195-pound championship match in the Chattahoochee River Wrestling Association tournament at Central-Carroll High School.
It was a different outcome.
Wegienka pinned Cannon in the first period to claim one of LaGrange’s two individual championships.
Emmanuel Mann rolled to the title in the 285-pound division in a match that was over in the first minute.
In all, seven LaGrange wrestlers placed to help the team finish fourth in the 14-team field.
“We had nine wrestlers, and we placed seven of them,” LaGrange coach Scooter Weathers said. “I thought we could place seven of them, and we did.”
Wegienka had a first-round bye, and he rolled in his first two matches to reach the title round where Cannon was waiting.
“Me and this guy, we’ve gone back and forth,” Wegienka said. “He’s a good guy, a good opponent. I talk to him all day long. We look forward to wrestling each other. I knew it was going to be a good match.”
Wegienka took charge from the get-go, and he was leading 7-0 when he got Cannon on the mat.
With the first period about to end, the referee gave the signal for the pin, and Wegienka had the win.
With so little time remaining in the period, Wegienka didn’t think the match was going to end at that point.
“I was really thinking about the second period,” Wegienka said.
Mann’s match didn’t come close to reaching the end of the first period.
Mann, who had two one-sided matches to reach the finals, had no trouble with Spencer Myers of Alexander.
The match wasn’t a minute old when Mann got Myers on the mat, and the pin was called.
“I had a good feeling I was going to win it,” Mann said. “But then again, you don’t know. I thought he might give me a challenge.”
It was also a successful tournament for LaGrange’s Dijon Hart, who finished third at 182 pounds.
LaGrange’s Chase Sams secured a fourth-place finish at 138 pounds, and John Todd Bohn (120 pounds) and Matt Watford (145 pounds) each placed fifth.
At 152 pounds, Kamrin Stargill finished sixth.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Weathers said. “We wrestled well at times, and then we wrestled like we’d never been coached before at times.”
Weathers believes everything will come together for the team once everyone settles into their ideal weight class.
“We’re going to be OK, once everybody gets where they need to be, and we get our lineup full,” Weathers said. “Hopefully we can make a run at top two for the area duals and make it back to Macon for the state duals, and then get ready for the traditional area tournament.”
LaGrange will be in Columbus on Friday and Saturday for the Hardaway Invitational.
“We’ll get to see a lot of area teams,” Weathers said. “We’ll get to gain some bullets, and hopefully we don’t lose some bullets. Beating somebody from your area gives you a bullet to fight with at the seed meeting.”
Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports