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By Ethan Strang

Local LaGrange kids showed out in the first round of 4A wrestling sectionals. Both Troup County and LaGrange won the majority of their matches in the first round Friday night.

Troup County went a combined 8-3 under the leadership of head coach Drew Garner. The eight winning results for Troup County were:

• Elijah Ward 36-6 won by forfeit
• Braydon Bowen 43-6 won by fall over Eugene Walden
• Kullum Irvin 39-4 won by forfeit
• Tim Dunn 29-4 won by fall over Hayden Axom
• Wesley Davidson 25-13 won by fall over Cameron Trimble
• Christian Hudson 32-17 won by forfeit
• Braxton Truitt 26-10 won by fall over Jayden Lang
• Brayden Hutchins 31-11 won by fall over Maurice Sellers

Troup County has a history of winning state championships in wrestling, but has not won one in over 20 years. Head coach Drew Garner was a wrestler on the last state championship team in 2001.

LaGrange High School did not have as many wrestlers in the tournament, but got some good results as well. The Grangers went 2-1 in their first round matches. The two winning wrestlers for LaGrange were:

• Sean Shirey 17-15 won by fall over Donald Williams
• Austin Skiff 19-9 won by fall over Darrance Williams

LaGrange won 3 traditional state championships in wrestling in the 1980s and are hoping to reach the mountain top once again in the 21st century.

The quarterfinals were ongoing as of press time and the semifinals and finals will be hosted by Troup County High School on Saturday.