Lady Mavs, Mavericks wrestlers dominate, send nine to state
Anderson County High School’s wrestling program continues to make history.
The Lady Mavericks kicked off a big weekend for ACHS wrestling Thursday night.
Sophomore Danielle Connors (120 pounds) opened the two-day state sectionals at Northview Academy in Kodak and emerged as the sectional champion Friday night.
She will advance to the state championships this weekend at the Williamson County Expo Center in Franklin.
On Saturday, the Mavericks competed in the Section 1-A championships at Chuckey-Doak High School and had a historic performance, setting a school record with eight state qualifiers.
“It was a historic day for us at the sectionals,” Mavericks Coach Matt Slone said. “I’ll have to go back and look, but I think this is the first time we’ve ever had a sectional champion, and this year, we had three. Of course, we’ve only had sectionals in wrestling for three or four years.
“This is the most state qualifiers we’ve had since they started doing the sectionals,” he said. “Last year, we had six.”
Five Mavericks reached the finals in their respective weight classes.
The three champions from ACHS included Aiden Reed (who grapples in the 113-pound division); Eli Bratton (190 pounds) and Josh Bingham (215).
Zed Houlet (120 pounds) and Max Wolfley (138) each finished as runners-up.
Luke Baldwin (106) and Tripp Haire (126) earned state berths with third-place finishes, while Hayden Harrell (144) qualified with a fourth-place finish.
“We went there and wrestled really well,” Slone said. “We had a couple of guys who could’ve wrestled a little better, but overall, we did well. We have high expectations for our guys and for Danielle at state.”
