In winning a Southeastern Slam wrestling championship last weekend in Atlanta, McCallie 145-pounder Michael Hooker pinned his way to the championship, but what was most impressive was that none of his five matches went beyond the second period. Two of his pins came in 12 and 13 seconds.
The Blue Tornado finished second in the tournament to Chattanooga rival Baylor in a partial preview of the teams' dual meet at 6 p.m. Friday at Baylor.
Baylor's Zach Watson suffered his first loss of the season, 6-4 in the 125-pound final against Chris Caton from Northside Christian of Charlotte, N.C. McCallie 160-pounder T.J. Duncan, bidding to become Tennessee's first five-time champion, lost his championship match (5-0) to Angeo Bortoluzzi of the Kiski School from Saltsburg, Pa. Like Watson, Caton is a junior. Bortoluzzi hasn't yet signed a college scholarship.
The Red Raiders' champions were Bennett Reece (130), Alex Manley (135) and John Mackey (285). Brandon Brunner (119), Watson (125), Stuart Doster (140), Matthew Cate (152) were runners-up, and Spencer Craig (160) was third.
McCallie got titles from Adam Connell (103) and Hooker. Alex Ward and Chase Martino finished third at 125 and 171, Cory Cobb was fourth at 140 and Tim Westbrooks was fifth at 130.
Sonoraville runner-up
The Sonoraville wrestling team tuned up for the postseason with a strong showing at Habersham Central High School's "Slam Sham" event this past weekend. The Phoenix finished second to Gilmer County's 237 points with 226. The strong field consisted of 10 perennially strong teams, with Class AA's Sonoraville being the smallest school represented.
Eleven Sonoraville wrestlers placed, led by Austin Williams (125), Layson West (140) and Zane Holder (189) with runner-up finishes. Heritage finished fourth with 195 points.
Rivalry hype enough
Had the East/Middle Region basketball game between rivals GPS and Baylor scheduled Thursday night at 6 at GPS been played last week, it would've been a matchup of teams ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in Division II in the Associated Press state poll. However, the AP released its new poll Monday and even though the Bruisers maintained the top spot, the Lady Red Raiders have slipped to sixth.
Baylor (12-8, 1-2), which plays tonight at 6 at Class AAA Bradley Central (14-5), was 10-5 during the 2010 portion of its schedule. The most damaging loss recently was Wednesday's 48-27 setback at Brentwood Academy, which improved one spot in the rankings this week to No. 4.
Baylor coach John Gibson said a top-two matchup wouldn't have added anything to Thursday's game, as far as his team is concerned. Whenever the Lady Raiders play the Bruisers, there's plenty of hoopla surrounding it anyway.
"The rivalry itself takes care of all that," Gibson said.
GPS (14-1, 3-0) won the two previous meetings, most recently by 56-42 in a region game Jan. 6 at Baylor. The Bruisers escaped 55-54 in overtime in the championship game of the Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament on Dec. 22 at Arts & Sciences.
Walker Valley third
Among other changes in the AP rankings, Walker Valley rose from fifth to third in the Class AAA girls' poll. Red Bank's boys made the biggest gain among area teams, improving from ninth to fifth in Class AA.
The only other area team to climb in the rankings was McCallie, which rose one spot to No. 6 in Division II while Baylor fell from No. 10 to out of the rankings. Arts & Sciences' ninth-ranked boys were tied for eighth in last week's Class A poll.
McMinn Central's girls remain No. 2 in Class AA, but Polk County fell from No. 7 to No. 9.
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