If there was any doubt after last week's championship scrap at the state duals, the Region 3 wrestling tournament should be another battle between Tennessee duals champion Bradley Central and duals runner-up Cleveland.
"If you look at it on paper, it looks like it's going to be quite a tournament," Cleveland coach Eric Phillips said. "We'll scratch and claw and get as many to the state as we can in order to make a run at the state title."
Bradley received seven No. 1 seeds to five for Cleveland. The only other team with top-seeded wrestlers is Greenback with 145-pound Jeremy Miller and heavyweight Tyler Daley.
The other top seeds awarded at Tuesday's meeting are Bradley's Jericho Crutcher (112), Ethan Hames (119), Trevor Herron (135), Bradley Colbaugh (140), Chris Aguilar (152), Matthew Roderick (171) and Tucker Bolton (215) and Cleveland's Aaron Oliver (103), Brandon Strickland (125), Marvin Lopez (130), Bailey Jones (160) and Chip Norwood (189).
"Both of us are pretty much in the same boat. It's tight but it depends on who gets bonus points and who gets to the finals," said Bradley coach Steve Logsdon, whose team has a string of 18 region championships in a row. "I don't think either team is thinking about region championships as opposed to seeing how many wrestlers we can get qualified for the state."
The Blue Raiders have four second-seeded wrestlers and Bradley has three.
"Yeah, for first and second it is probably another Bradley-Cleveland fight," Walker Valley coach Alan Morris said. "You'd have to think Bradley would be favored. Greenback has the two No. 1 seeds, but the third place team could be anybody."
Bradley entered 145-pound Vince Aguilar, who suffered a dislocated elbow in Saturday's duals championship against Cleveland. The general consensus is that Aguilar, a senior, will wrestle until he has at least secured a berth for the state tournament Feb. 18-20 in Franklin.
"Vince went to a sports medicine doctor and they have cleared him to wrestle Friday. We're going to follow doctors' advice about him being on a bike or training," Logsdon said. "I'm not a doctor and I told his parents that's a decision for the doctors and parents. I thought he was done."
Ironically, Aguilar's parents took him to Dr. Gary Voytek, father of current Cleveland quarterback Chad Voytek.
One change this year is that the state has abandoned its 10-region format in favor of eight regions, meaning that each region again will have four qualifiers for each of the 14 weight classes.
The 15-team Region 3 tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at Alcoa. Tournament director Brian Gossett, former McMinn Central coach, plans to run through championship semifinals Friday night. Saturday's first round begins at 11 a.m. and the consolation and championship finals are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Admission will be $7 per session, and an all-day Saturday pass covering both sessions will be sold for $12.
"Brian ran a region at McMinn Central a few years ago and ran a first-rate tournament," Morris said. "At Alcoa he has great facilities and support, so everything should be good."
Walker Valley had three No. 2 seeds in Caleb Langford (103), Isaiah Simpson (215) and Dylan Mills (285).
Ward Gossett is an assistant sports editor and writer for the Times Free Press. Ward has a long history in Chattanooga journalism. He actually wrote a bylined story for the Chattanooga News-Free Press as a third-grader. He Began working part-time there in 1968 and was hired full time in 1970. Ward now covers high school athletics, primarily football, wrestling and baseball and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling. Over a 40-year career, he has covered ...
Please help me understand the irony. Dr. Voytik provides an athletic trainer for both the county schools in Bradley county, and one for the Cleveland City school. I beleive Dr. Voytik is also listed as the team physician for Bradley High School.
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