CBA's youngsters grow
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 13, 2010 1:47 PM
The young ones are growing up.
Three Charles B. Aycock grapplers earned medals, including first-year starter Nick Jones, and placed ninth overall as a team during the 15th Eagle Invitational contested Saturday at Rosewood High School.
Jones claimed three straight victories after a quarterfinal-round loss to East Carteret's Dylan Lyerly at 103 pounds. He logged back-to-back pins over Millbrook's Alex Garcia and Cleveland's Derrick Applewhite.
Jones edged Central Academy's Zak Sawyer, 5-4, in the third-place match.
"Nick continues to exceed our expectations," said Golden Falcons head coach Marc Peck. "In my opinion, having an assistant (Mark Bass) who is one of the best technical wrestling coaches in North Carolina, really sets our young wrestlers up for quick success. This has been evident in the early achievements of four first-year starters this season."
Returning starters David Romo (125 pounds) and Aaron Pate (135) ended up second and third, respectively.
Romo lost to Rosewood's Zach Behrend in the finals. Pate, like Jones, bounced back from a quarterfinal-round defeat to win three straight matches. He turned back Lejeune's Bo Aldarado, 13-6, in the bronze-medal bout.
"David is back in rare form after battling the flu and Aaron is closing in on peak performance as we begin our (Eastern 3-A Carolina) conference schedule," said Peck.
-- By RUDY COGGINS