LEWES — Smyrna High advanced the most wrestlers to the semifinals of the DIAA individual wrestling tournament and the Eagles also pulled off the biggest stunner.
Smyrna sophomore Larsen Wilson …
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LEWES — Smyrna High advanced the most wrestlers to the semifinals of the DIAA individual wrestling tournament and the Eagles also pulled off the biggest stunner.
Smyrna sophomore Larsen Wilson knocked off top seed Isiah Mitchell in the second round of the 170-pound bracket with a 9-3 decision. Wilson, seeded eighth, was the only wrestler to upset a No. 1 seed on Friday.
The other 13 of the 14 top seeds all moved on to today’s semifinal at Cape Henlopen High including two from Smyrna, Wilson’s older brother senior Kalen Wilson (160) and sophomore Tony Wuest (195). Wuest recorded pinfalls in both his matches, highlighted by a 51-second match in round two, while Kalen Wilson had a tech-fall in his opener and a pin in his second match.
Larsen Wilson wasn’t the only surprise result according to the seedings in his bracket. Seventh seed Logan Montgomery of Salesianum edged out No. 2 seed Lucas Hudson 4-3 to also make the semifinals.
Caesar Rodney’s Andrew Sudler is now the best remaining seed at No. 3 and will face Montgomery. Larsen Wilson, who finished fourth at last weekend’s Henlopen Conference championships, will meet Polytech’s Avery Mayan, the lone Panther still alive, who defeated Wilson in the third place match at conferences.
Two other second seeds fell short of the semifinals. At 126, Sussex Central’s Rashad Stratton was defeated by Wilmington Charter’s Jesse Muaka 8-5 and at 160, Caravel’s Josh Dailey was upset in the first round by No. 15 Attila Brisco of Hodgson before Ben Froelich of Salesianum, the 10th seed, beat Brisco to make it to the semifinals.
The rest of the one and two seeds were able to qualify for today’s semifinals which are scheduled for 11 a.m. The finals will begin at 7 p.m., tickets are $7 for the finals.
Highlighting today’s action in the semifinals are two rematches from the Henlopen Conference championship round. Second seed Anthony Fisher of Dover and third seed Chase Archangelo of Smyrna will meet at 132 and second seed Nick Lee of Dover will face third seed Nate Bryant of Smyrna at 138. Both Fisher and Lee were victorious in narrow decisions last weekend for conference titles.
Smyrna also had Chris Begatto as a sixth seed go through to the semifinals in the 113-pound bracket. Greg Baum (120) is the final Eagle to make the semifinals.
Caesar Rodney, who did not have an individual state champion last year for the first time since 1995, has five wrestlers still alive — sixth seed Mike Primo (106), top seed Cam Hayes (113), Tommy Gallucci (152), Sudler and second seed Mike Clavier (195).
Tykwan Joyner, a 120-pounder, joined Fisher and Lee as the three Dover wrestlers to make the second day. Sussex Central also has three still wrestling, top seed at 145 pounds Justin Bennett, 152-pounder Brandon Bautista and John Morris at 195.
Milford has five wrestlers in the semifinals with Robbie Rosser (106), Bart Dalious (145), Kenny VanVorst (182), Dom Hovington (220) and Bryan Wynes (285) winning both their matches on Friday.
Cape Henlopen also had five wrestlers advance. They are Anthony Caruso (106), Max Norquest (126), Vincent Diego (138), Cory Lawson (160) and Joel Torres (220).
Other downstate wrestlers who are still in the tournament are Indian River’s Zeke Marcozzi (160), Sussex Tech’s Colin Bergh (182) and Woodbridge’s Dom Pierce (285).