Rosewood finishes sixth in 14th Eagle Invitational
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 14, 2009 1:46 PM
Daniel Richter had a perfect day.
The Spring Creek 125-pounder emerged the lone county competitor to seize a gold medal during the 14th annual Eagle Invitational contested on the Rosewood wrestling mats Saturday.
Richter, the No. 1 seed, received an opening-round bye and advanced with an 18-second pin of Hunt's Marcus Barnes. The senior followed that with three consecutive decisions, including a 6-5 conquest of South Central's Colton Roberts in the championship bout.
Richter (9-1 overall) extended his win streak to eight matches.
Overall, 10 county wrestlers placed among the top four in their respective weight classes during the day-long, 19-team event. Top-seeded Zach Behrend endured his first defeat, falling to West Craven's Chance Credeur in the 119-pound title match.
"Chance was very good from his feet and extremely effective with freestyle-type throws," said Rosewood coach Bill Edmundson. "Zach had never wrestled anyone like this before and by the end of the match, had adjusted and was scoring points."
Credeur won Most Outstanding Wrestler honors.
Southern Wayne's Derek Whitman couldn't protect his No. 1 seed and fell to Pine Forest's Gerry Hassenmayer in the 215-pound championship. Other county wrestlers to record top-four finishes were Spring Creek's Thomas Edwards (103 pounds); Eastern Wayne's Cory Harris (124); Rosewood's Nick Quillen (112), Scott Pate (130), Josh Pipkin (152) and Jacob Roberts (160); and Charles B. Aycock's Jon Rudolph (215).
Pipkin has a team- and area-leading 17 wins.
"The tournament was a huge success for our school and our wrestling program," said Rosewood head coach Bill Edmundson. "I was really hoping for a top-five finish and we just missed that goal. The guys did an outstanding job in a tough tournament. This is preparing them for the level of competition they will see in the (1-A) region."
Princeton's B.J. Creech took third at 145 pounds with an 89-second fall over White Oak's Coleman Jones. Creech improved to 11-5 this season.
Fayetteville Pine Forest claimed the team crown with a decisive 208-137.5 victory over Raleigh Millbrook. South Central, the 2008 Invitational champion, placed third with 127.5 points. Jacksonville White Oak and West Craven shared fourth place with 111.5 points apiece.
Rosewood ended up sixth with 106.5 points.