C.B. Aycock wins Lee R. Hall championship

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 30, 2006 2:20 PM

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PINETOPS — Charles B. Aycock’s wrestling team prevailed in the final four individual matches and turned back Wilmington E.A. Laney 37-26 to claim the Lee R. Hall Duals championship Saturday at SouthWest Edgecombe.

The Golden Falcons remained unbeaten in 25 dual-team outings and conclude their regular-season schedule at home Tuesday against archrival Eastern Wayne. A victory assures Aycock of its first Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference regular-season title since 2002 and the No. 1 seed for the N.C. High School Athletic Association dual-team playoffs.

A loss could create a possible three-way tie for first with the league’s two postseason berths on the line in next Saturday’s season-ending tournament at Pikeville.

Junior Ronald Lynn defeated two state-ranked wrestlers on the way to earning Most Outstanding Wrestler honors among the 12 competing teams. Lynn, who has 105 career victories, defeated 4-A runner-up Josh Sevrens (Wakefield) and then knocked off Laney’s Tanner Sewell in the night’s final dual match. Sewell finished sixth among the state’s 4-A 140-pounders two years ago.

“Winning an MOW award is always a big deal,” said Aycock coach Kevin Smith. “It means that other coaches saw your performance and voted for you. With so many ranked wrestlers and previous state placers under one roof, it makes the achievement more special.

“I’m very happy for Ronald.”

Lynn’s decision over Sewell started a match-ending 21-0 run for the Golden Falcons. Bryant Lancaster earned a 27-second fall at 145 and Steve Bentley drew a forfeit at 152. Tim Harrison, who earned his 100th career win earlier in the day against New Bern, recorded a fall to cap Aycock’s comeback.

“Ron’s win put us in great position to win the dual,” said a relieved Smith. “We had a chance to look at Laney over the course of the day and knew a majority of the individual matches could go either way.

“(We realized) our kids were going to have to put in a big effort in some key matches if we were going to win. We got those efforts at the places we needed them.”

Jason Steed (171 pounds), Drake Gurley (103), Ngu Tran (119) and Derek Lancaster (125) each claimed an individual win for the Golden Falcons.

“The tension and intensity of that match was like a match in state duals,” said Smith. “It was good for our younger kids to see just how intense an atmosphere of a big match is because if we want to meet our postseason goals, we will have to win a lot of these types of matches — both individually and as a team.”

Aycock defeated North Pitt (1-0) and New Bern (56-9) in preliminary-round matches. Smith’s club defeated Havelock (44-22) and Wakefield (65-6) in the semifinal round, which set up the thriller against Laney.