Seven CBA wrestlers finish tourney unbeaten

By Steve Roush
Published in Sports on December 13, 2005 2:00 PM

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SMITHFIELD -- Two Charles B. Aycock wrestlers exacted a little revenge and seven finished unbeaten overall during a day-long, multi-team dual tournament contested at Smithfield-Selma on Saturday.

Steve Bentley collected a 6-2 decision against Southern Nash's Zach Shearin, who beat Bentley in the Falcon Invitational and the Pierce-Davis Memorial. Tim Harrison handed the Firebirds' Eric Wischhusen his first loss of the season after falling to the 160-pounder in the Falcon Invitational and Pierce-Davis Memorial.

"I was so happy for both of them," said C.B. Aycock coach Kevin Smith. "It shows that they are both continuing to improve, and that every time they get on the mat they are going to get better.

"Both decided (Saturday) was the day they were going to overcome a very good wrestler and take a step forward in their (respective) wrestling careers."

Bentley, Harrison, Drake Gurley, Nug Tran, Derek Lancaster, Ronald Lynn and Jason Steed each posted 5-0 records. Lynn pinned every opponent he faced and didn't yield any points on the day.

"Ronald is wrestling so well right now," said Smith. "He was aggressive in all of his matches. I thought he looked exceptional on his feet. He was in total control of every match he wrestled today."

The Golden Falcons defeated South Johnston (57-18), Southern Nash (52-20), Harnett Central (66-18) and Garner (68-4) in pool play. Smith's team dealt the host Spartans a 46-24 setback in the day's final match.

"We knew this would be sternest test so far this year," said Smith. "Smithfield-Selma had wrestled many more duals than we had this year, and had some quality wins against very good wrestling teams.

"We got off to a great start and then had some of our younger kids stay off their backs and only give up decisions against some of their better wrestlers. Even in a loss, some of our young kids made a positive contribution to our team today."

C.B. Aycock returns to action later this week in the two-day, 36-team WRAL Invitational at Raleigh Athens Drive. First-round matches begin Friday at 3:30 p.m. with medal-round matches slated for Saturday evening. The weekend tournament features some of the top prep programs in North Carolina along with schools from Virginia, South Carolina and West Virginia.

"We will definitely see where we stand at this point in the season," said Smith. "I look forward to see the best that North Carolina has to offer, more importantly, how we wrestle against them. If we don't go to the tough tournaments, we won't get any better and that is the goal."