MOULTRIE – In its final tune-up before the Jan. 7 Region 1-7A duals, the Colquitt County wrestling team turned in its most impressive performance of the season.
The Packers got first-place finishes from Eric Henson, Randy Smith and Michael Bledsoe to win the Raider Invitational held Wednesday and Thursday at West Laurens High School.
Colquitt had 240 points to win by 11 over second-place – and Region 1-7A member – Richmond Hill.
The Wildcats were followed by Coffee, East Laurens and West Laurens in the 20-team field.
The Packers also got a runner-up performance from Russell Flowers, and Billy Lawton and JaQuavian Daniels each was third in his weight class.
All three Colquitt County first-place finishers went 7-0.
Henson won at 132 pounds with a pin of Westfield School’s Asher Neubauer in the first-place match. It was Henson’s second pin of Neubauer, who is now 19-3, in the tournament.
A junior, Henson also pinned Irwin County’s Maddox Pierce in the semifinals and will take a 27-8 record into the region duals, which will be held at Camden County.
Smith took a 1-0 decision over Dublin’s Micah O’Neal in the first-place match at 138 pounds.
In raising his season’s record to 18-8, the Colquitt County sophomore also had pinned O’Neal in his first match of the tournament.
Smith took a 3-2 decision over Houston County’s Caleb McGlamry in the semifinals.
Bledsoe, wrestling at 144, took a 13-2 major decision over Coffee’s Arthur Reed in the first-place match.
A senior, Bledsoe is now 24-10 this season.
Flowers went 5-2 in the tournament and lost to Westfield School’s Coleman Williams by injury default in the 157-pound first-place match.
The Colquitt County sophomore will take a 28-8 record into the region duals.
Lawton went 7-2 at 138 pounds, losing in round five to Bryan Womack of West Laurens and to Dublin’s Micah O’Neal in the semifinals.
A junior, Lawton won his third-place match over Houston County’s Caleb McGlamry and is now 24-12 this season.
Daniels, who got a late start on the mats this season after being a key member of the Colquitt County football team that reached the state semifinals, went 3-1, including a pin of Irwin County’s Michael Joiner in the third-place match.
Also competing for the Packers were freshman Quintarious Mitchell, who was 1-4 at 106 pounds; freshman Cristobal Camarena, who was 5-2 and finished fifth at 113 pounds; freshman Britton Marshall, who was 4-5 at 126 pounds; senior Joseph Stokes who was 4-4 at 157 pounds and finished eighth; junior Trenton Dunbar, who was 2-3 at 165 pounds and was seventh; freshman Ethan Yingling, who was 2-4 at 175 pounds and was eighth; sophomore Matthew Dillon, who was 5-3 at 215 pounds and was sixth; and senior Robert Tompkins, who was 1-3 at 285 pounds and was sixth.
Also competing in the invitational were Veterans, Morgan County, Westfield School, Perry, Dublin, Ware County, Houston County, Irwin County, Jeff Davis, East Coweta, Baldwin, Upson-Lee, Treutlen County, Statesboro and Trinity Christian.