MOULTRIE – Colquitt County brothers Austin and Logan Paradice have earned All-America honors with fourth-place finishes in USA Wrestling’s U.S. Open Championships.
Austin, a former two-time state champion for Colquitt County High School who now competes at UT-Chattanooga, wrestled in the U20 Greco 72 kg (158.7 pounds) division at the Championships, which were held April 26-30 at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
He received a first-round bye and then won by an 11-2 technical fall over Westminster, Calif.’s Joe Antonio.
In the quarterfinals, he took a 10-10 win on criteria over Woodland Hills, Calif.’s Arvin Khoravy, who won the World Team Trials in Greco at 71 kg (156.5 pounds) in the U17 division to represent Team USA at Worlds.
In the semifinals, Austin lost to No. 1 seed Brendon Abdon of Lake Gibson, Fla., 9-0.
In the consolation semifinals, he took a 9-0 technical fall over Dylan Whitt of Des Moines, Iowa.
In the consolation finals, he lost to Khosravy 9-0 to take fourth place.
Austin will compete next in Greco at 72 kg in U20 at the World Team Trials in June in Geneva, Ohio, and will compete in the U23 World Team Trials in freestyle at 70 kg (154.3 pounds) the same week.
Next season, he expects to wrestle at 157 pounds at Chattanooga. He was red-shirted last season.
Younger brother Logan, who won a state championship for the Packers in 2022 as a freshman before wrestling at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn., last season, competed in Las Vegas in the U17 freestyle 65 kg (143.3 pounds) division.
Logan, too, received a first-round bye then won by a 10-0 technical fall over Nicholas Egbalic of Las Vegas in the second round.
In Round 3, he won again by a technical fall, 11-0 over Middletown, R.I.’s Matthew Dimen.
In a third straight technical fall win, Logan defeated Tre Haines of Marysville, Wash., 13-3 in Round 4.
In the quarterfinals, Logan faced Quakertown, Pa.’s Collin Gaj, who was the No. 4-ranked wrestler overall in the U.S. at 145 pounds, and took a big 5-4 win.
In the semifinals, Logan lost 9-3 to Palm Desert, Calif.’s Brock Mantanona, the No. 4-ranked wrestler in the U.S. at 138.
Mantanona, who led just 2-1 going into the final minute when a mistake by Logan led to several quick points, went on to win the tournament and will represent the U.S. at Worlds this summer.
In the consolation semifinals, Logan won 10-6 over Linn-Mar, Iowa’s Kane Naatkenboren, but fell in the final 10-0 to Gabriel Bouyssou of Scituate, Mass.
Logan will compete this summer for Team Georgia in the Junior Duals and also will travel to Fargo, N.D., for Junior Nationals, seeking another All-American finish.
Next season he will compete again at Colquitt County and take aim at a second state championship, but is also likely to compete in some college open tournaments as well.
He won his first college open as a high school sophomore last season.