Bradley Central wrestler Toribio Navarro, left, grapples with Cleveland wrestler Tristian Blansit during their bout at the Region 4-AAA wrestling tournament finals. Navarro posted a 48-3 record at 113 pounds last year.Five teams to watchBaylor: Once they get some football players into the wrestling room, the Red Raiders will be as strong as they’ve been in a few years, and they’re defending state duals champs.Cleveland: The Blue Raiders have dominated Class AAA the last two seasons, winning both state titles each year.Gordon Lee: Brent Raby’s Trojans get to taste the waters in Georgia Class AA after finishing no worse than third in Class A competition in the last 10 years.Hixson: Although their numbers are down slightly, the Wildcats won last year’s Tennessee A/AA state with a fairly young group, and coach Garrick Hall has 10 returnees.McCallie: The Blue Tornado actually finished ahead of Baylor in last year’s traditional tournament and return a lot of strength in the middle and upper weights.Five wrestlers to watchChris Dbien, Cleveland: A three-time state champion, most recently at 126 with a 42-2 record, he could show up anywhere from 126 to 138 depending on team needs.Caleb Mariakis, Ridgeland: The senior West Virginia University signee has battled injury the past two seasons but has his sights set squarely on winning a state title this year.Packy Mullin, Notre Dame: Wrestling at 132 last year, Mullin went through the season undefeated, finishing 27-0 and winning his first state title.Toribio Navarro, Bradley Central: He posted a 48-3 record at 113 pounds last year on his way to his second state championship.Johnny Ragsdale, Gordon Lee: The senior, who has signed with West Virginia, went undefeated a year ago, finishing 54-0 on his way to his third GHSA individual state title.
While Cleveland is looking forward to defending its Class AAA high school state wrestling championships, the approach for Hixson and Baylor is to complete 2013-2014 missions that came up short.
“That’s a long way away and we have a long way to go,” Cleveland coach Jake Yost said. “When you graduate three guys that were in the state finals, that’s a lot of points.”
Hixson and Baylor took half of their respective divisions’ championship hardware, Baylor winning the Division II duals and Hixson winning the state’s first A/AA traditional tournament.
“I hate to think of it as unfinished business,” Baylor coach Ben Nelson said. “This year’s guys have goals, and winning both state tournaments is one of them. We’ll keep plugging away at it till we get to the end of the year.”