Smith wins third regional title, two others finish second

Wilson Smith checked off another milestone as he searches for his second straight state title.

The Rocky Mount High junior easily dispatched of his rivals over the weekend at the 3-A East Regional, pinning his first three opponents in the first period and then dominating Wilson Fike’s Rae’Sae Settles to claim the regional crown at 126 pounds. It was Smith’s third straight regional title.

The Gryphons finished in fourth place as a team, but only qualified three other wrestlers for the state tournament next week in Greensboro. Alex Henderson made the finals at 160 pounds, but suffered his first defeat of the season, dropping a 16-6 major decision to Tanner Stamper-Smith of Havelock. Sedrak Sheppard finished in third place at 170 pounds and Rahsun Lawrence finished fourth in the 106-pound bracket.

The Nash County schools as a whole had a tough time punching tickets to the state tournament with seven wrestlers dropping win-and-you’re-in consolation matches including three who made the championship semifinals. The only non-Rocky Mount High wrestler to qualify for Greensboro from 3-A was Southern Nash’s Kendrick Watson, who finished third at heavyweight.

In the 1-A East regional, Tarboro’s Quadarrius Hopkins was denied a second-consecutive 145-pound title when he injured his opponent, Princeton’s Michael Daughtry, with an illegal slam in the second overtime period. Coach Andrew Harding said the junior was “emotional” after the defeat, but ultimately hopes it will light a fire within Hopkins to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish.

“It was a very tough match as it always has been between him and Daughtry,” Harding said. “He made the fatal error, but he’s still able to go to the state championships, so we need to look ahead.”

Hopkins’ younger brother Raquavius was the only other Vikings’ grappler to qualify, coming back from a first-round loss to finish third at 113 pounds. The sophomore started off slowly in his opening match against North Moore’s Travis English, but nearly pinned him before time expired, ultimately losing 10-8. It started a long day in the consolation brackets that Hopkins finished with a pin in the third-place match.

The Hopkins brothers will be joined in practice this week by a special guest — 2014 All-Area wrestler of the year, David Guevara. The 2014 state champion is home for the week from the Marines and is coming to help prepare the brothers for the rigors of the state tournament. Harding said he hopes Guevara will help toughen up his wrestlers by “beating them up a bit,” but he will also be a good resource for two brothers hungry for a state title of their own.

“He’s been there, he himself has come up short a few times, it will be good to have him around,” Harding said. “Quadarrius looks up to David because he has accomplished what Quadarrius wants to accomplish.”

Tarboro also had three wrestlers fall a win shy of a berth in Greensboro, a result that was not completely unexpected.

Harding said he was excited about the progress of all of his other wrestlers, pointing out the tremendous improvement junior Anthony Costanza and sophomore Michael Ellis made this season.

By Josh walfish

Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Sunday, February 14, 2016