Bradley, Cleveland starting to pull away in AAA wrestling

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - The Tennessee Class AAA state wrestling team race was tight from one perspective on opening night Thursday, but it was beginning to break apart beyond the first two on the leaderboard.

Bradley Central, the defending champion and pre-tournament pick, had a slim 2.5-point lead, and the hound close enough to nip at the Bears' heels was top rival Cleveland.

"I felt there was actually a chance we might leave tonight down by a few points," Bradley coach Ben Smith said. "We scored a lot of bonus points in the first round and then won some matches I thought would be toss-ups in the second round."

Bradley had 78.5 points to 76 for the Blue Raiders, and the two had begun to pull away from the field. Cleveland forged ahead of third-place Tennessee High, the runner-up a year ago, by 16.5 points.

"I'm not surprised that they're pulling away," said Soddy-Daisy coach Jim Higgins, who's in the same region with the pair and knows those two programs as well as any coach in the state.

"I still think the tournament is Bradley's to lose," observed Science Hill coach Jimmy Miller, whose team saw the two leaders more than once during the season. "They have enough horses. They have a lot of powerful kids. If it's close they'll win it in the wrestle-backs."

Surprising Independence and Halls were tied in fourth with 57.5 points and Arlington was sixth with 54, two points better than Science Hill and four better than eighth-place Summit and Wilson Central.

Soddy-Daisy was in 10th place with 47 points.

While Bradley put 10 in this morning's quarterfinals, Cleveland kept it close with a strong showing in the two consolation rounds. The Blue Raiders got six through to the quarterfinals and have seven alive in the consolations. Bradley has two in the consolations and lost only one of the 13 it advanced from the region.

"Come noon tomorrow (after the quarterfinals), we'll have an idea of where we really stand," Smith said. "The thing about Cleveland, they're going to be fighting, clawing and digging the entire way. But I don't see our guys backing off from the challenge."

The Region 4 contingent otherwise had been cut down to size, however - at least in the championship bracket. Chattanooga-area teams had just 23 of their 56 qualifiers in the chase for gold medals.

In addition to Bradley's 10 and Cleveland's six, Soddy-Daisy advanced three, East Hamilton two and Walker Valley and Ooltewah one each.

Of those remaining in the winners bracket, 32 of their wins brought their teams bonus points and 11 of those - Soddy-Daisy's Landon Wheaton, Tony Wilson and Troy Boeck; Bradley's Knox Fuller and Caleb Adkins; Cleveland's Bryce Pond and Colton Landers; East Hamilton's Conner Thornburg and Walker Valley's Mikel Gregory - had won each of their matches by pin, and the Bears' T.J. Hicks had a bye before pinning in the second round.

The tournament resumes at 11 a.m. EST with AAA teams in championship quarterfinals and Class A/AA teams and Division II tournaments beginning with the round of 16.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

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