No rest for local wrestling teams

Bradley Central coach Steve Logsdon spent 75 minutes on a bicycle and then settled in on the couch Sunday afternoon. Cleveland coach Eric Phillips celebrated his 43rd birthday and Hixson coach Garrick Hall washed singlets before catching up on family time.

The state wrestling duals tournament finalists have little time to recoup, much less celebrate, before hitting the ground running this afternoon.

Hixson won the A/AA championship and Bradley outdueled Cleveland for the AAA title Saturday in Franklin but those teams and their coaches must begin immediate preparations for their respective region tournaments.

Hixson will compete Thursday and Friday in the Region 4 tournament at Red Bank with a goal of repeating its 2009 championship. Bradley Central and Cleveland will be in the Region 3 tournament Friday and Saturday at Alcoa.

"We'll go back to work tomorrow, practice at regular time," said Hall, who worked in a traditional weekend breakfast trip to Huddle House with his son. "Some of the guys rolled into the region and did what was needed for us to be region champs. It will be tougher this year and our guys better be ready. If they aren't ready to wrestle I hope they'll let me know because we can sure put somebody else in there."

In addition to his team's championship notoriety, Hall has other concerns.

"There are a lot more teams. Central has some good athletes and Red Bank is going to show up. I would bet they'll wrestle even harder with the tournament being at their home," he said.

Central is coming off its first state duals appearance since 1992 and the field includes Soddy-Daisy, Ooltewah and Notre Dame.

Logsdon has bigger problems. In addition to Cleveland and Walker Valley, teams with which he is quite familiar, there are a number of new Region 3 opponents including Greenback, Maryville and tournament host Alcoa.

Bradley's championship hopes took a hit Saturday night when 145-pound senior Vince Aguilar suffered a dislocated elbow in the championship meet with Cleveland.

"He was a great candidate for a state medal," Logsdon said. "I don't like it for us but I really hate it for him. We have had kids hurt before but there was always next year. He doesn't have that."

The likely candidate to replace Aguilar was Tait Rakestraw but because of a weigh-in at a higher weight this weekend, he can't meet the state criteria for weight descent. Logsdon wouldn't identify three replacement candidates because he hadn't talked to them but he did say it was probable that the Bears would likely have challenge matches this afternoon.

While Hall gave his team the day off, Bradley and Cleveland had the rooms open but even coming in and rolling around to work out any kinks was voluntary.

"We had the room open because the guys asked about it on the bus trip home," Phillips said. "We got beat. We have work to do."

Phillips had to be reminded that Sunday was his 43rd birthday.

"Yeah, I'm 43 but I feel 80. I feel like I've been through a war twice," he said.

The wars are just beginning.