PREP WRESTLING: Greenwood claims Searcy Duals despite depleted lineup

Greenwood may not have been at full strength, but it still claimed the Searcy Duals tournament title over the weekend.

The Bulldogs were missing four members of their regular lineup but still won all five duals and remained undefeated on the season.

"We were kinda beat up, had some guys sick," Greenwood coach John Kincade said. "But we wrestled real well. We had four state placers from last year that didn't wrestle, but we had some backups step up and beat some good teams."

Greenwood (14-0) defeated Little Rock Central 52-27 in the finals. Tyler Crossno pinned the Class 6A defending state champion at 220 pounds to help him earn outstanding wrestler honors for the tournament.

It's the second tournament title this season for the Bulldogs, who also won the Van Buren duals earlier. Greenwood returns nine state medalists from last year's third-place team in Class 5A.

Kincade said his team has performed well overall this season, finishing third at the Battle for the Bling in Fayetteville before Christmas and 11th out of 34 teams at a tournament in Allen, Texas.

Defending state champions Colton Tuck and Ty Moose each finished third in Fayetteville, as did Crossno.

Van Buren

Addison Loney picked up another tournament title last weekend at the Searcy Lady Lions Invitational, but she had company on top of the podium.

Loney, a sophomore, picked up three pinfall victories to win in the 132-pound weight class and improve to 14-1 on the season, after earning outstanding wrestler honors at the Springdale Har-Ber tournament a week ago. Van Buren teammates Violet Summers (100) and Lillian Jones (108) also won their respective weight classes to help the team finish fifth out of 15.

The Pointers also won the Pulaski Academy Invitational over the weekend with RJ Riley (285), Devin Swearingen (182) and Trevor Edelen (113) each winning their weight class. Van Buren had seven wrestlers place among the top five in their weight class, finishing with 320.5 points to edge second-place Lake Hamilton's 290.5 in the 25-team event.

Berryville

Dominic Henry, the defending 4A state champion at 113 pounds, claimed the 120-pound weight class at the Pulaski Academy Invitational last week to help the Bobcats to a fourth-place finish as a team.

Caleb Record, the defending 4A state champion at 108, finished second at 113. Record lost in the finals to Edelen of Van Buren, who finished third in Class 6A at 113 last year. Three other Bobcats each finished third.

Springdale Har-Ber

The Wildcats won the consolation bracket and finished 4-4 at the recent Diamond State Duals despite battling some injuries.

Springdale Har-Ber coach Nika West hopes to increase this year's 12-team event back to as many as 24. This year's Diamond State Duals included teams from Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Louisiana.

West said his team's strength is in the upper weights, but freshman Lane Parrish, a multi-year state champion as a youth wrestler should also contribute.

Har-Ber demonstrated that strength in the upper weights earlier in the season when Billy Tillery defeated teammate Ricky Samuels by a point to win the 220-pound weight class at the Bentonville West Invitational.

Springdale High

Emily Monk picked up her second tournament title recently, winning the 124-pound weight class at the Diamond State Girls Invitational.

The junior won all four matches by fall to claim her second tournament title of the season. She also won at the Har-Ber Invitational to open the season and finished second at the Battle for the Bling in Fayetteville.

"Her only loss is to a kid from Texas," Springdale coach Josh Rivers said. "I can't say enough good things about her. And I can't wait to see what else she's going to do."

Monk asked about wrestling after she heard about the all-girls wrestling team on announcements at school, Rivers said.

"She was in my class and asked, 'What's this all about?'" Rivers said. "I said, 'Well, let me just show you.' I didn't know she was that interested, but she showed up and has been great."

Preps Sports on 01/16/2020

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