Cleveland dominates ECC wrestling tournament

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 11, 2013 1:47 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Cleveland got the sweep. Charles B. Aycock ended the day stunned.

The Rams claimed their first-ever Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference wrestling tournament championship, and just three Golden Falcons secured individual titles on Saturday afternoon.

Cleveland concluded the six-team, round-robin event with a program-best eight individual champions and 271 total points.

Team sportsmanship award-winner Triton had three gold medalists and finished a surprising second with 201 points, followed by eight-time tournament champion Aycock with 193.5. Eastern Wayne (139 points), Southern Wayne (53) and South Johnston (33.5) rounded out the competition.

"It was a somewhat disappointing day as we expected to win six weight classes and came out with three," CBA head coach Marc Peck said. "We lacked energy at the end in the deciding matches."

Golden Falcon senior Khaleil Owens picked up the 160-pound gold medal and earned the ECC wrestler-of-the-year award for the second straight year.

"We are proud of Khaleil," Peck said.

Senior 132-pounder Daniel Romo notched the third ECC individual title of his career, while teammate Zack Howard repeated as the 106-pound champion. Aycock's Jacob Dickenson, Jordan Bailey, Charlie Mills and Jaquan Walker each finished runner-up in their respective weight classes.

Ryan Morton, Broc Doyle and Alex Edmonds each grabbed a bronze medal.

Eastern Wayne senior Romario Torres (126 pounds), Craig Smith (145) and Jamal Barrett (195) each placed second. The Warriors received bronze-medal (third-place) performances from Andre Smith, Brice Heller, Cainen Miller, Darrian Adkins, Kevon Tune and Julian Bruton.

Southern Wayne junior Deonta Hayes took runner-up at heavyweight.

Cleveland (22-6 overall) and C.B. Aycock (28-5) return to action Tuesday in the N.C. High School Athletic Association dual-team playoffs. Opening-round pairings have not been announced.