The Union Pines High School Vikings Wrestling team won the 37-team Tiger Holiday Classic Dec. 22-23 at Chapel Hill High School, said Union Pines Head Wrestling Coach Brian Gray in a press release.
They were the team runner-up last year and won the tournament one other time in 2009. The Vikings had a wrestler competing at 13 of the 14 weight classes.
The top five teams:
Union Pines, 180.5 points
Cardinal Gibbons, 150.5
William Hough, 150.5
Northern Guilford, 147
New Bern, 146.5
They were led by Nicholas Mascolino, the 182-pound champion, who dominated his bracket. In the first two rounds, the No. 1 3A ranked, Mascolino, had falls over East Chapel Hill and Pinecrest wrestlers.
Nicholas Mascolino (left), Tiger Holiday Classic Champion. Both photos contributed.
He had a technical fall in the semi-final round over the No. 18 ranked, Collin Jassett, of Havelock, and then won by fall over the No. 8 ranked Ethan Kuball of Northwood.
The following Viking Wrestlers also placed:
Aiden Enright, third place at 106 points
Keaton Crawford, sixth place at 113
Jayden Crawford, third place at 126
Finn McCafferty, third place at 138
Brock Sullivan, second place at 160
Dantrell Williams, fifth place at 195
Colton Collins, third place at 220
Pinecrest, with only nine wrestlers competing, placed tenth as a team with 92.5 points. Jayden Dobeck led the Patriots, a state champion last year, and is currently the No. 1 ranked 4A 170-pound wrestler.
He had three falls to make the finals, where he met up with Savoy New of Cardinal Gibbons, the No. 3 ranked 4A 182-pound wrestler, making his first appearance down at 170. Dobeck won a hard-fought match by a score of 4-3.
Also placing, both sixth, for the Patriots were Adam Yessef at 152 pounds and Cooper Ogden at 160 pounds.
In the first-ever Tiger Holiday Classic women’s tournament, the Pinecrest women were the runner-up team. With five wrestlers, the Patriots finished with 59 points. Jack Britt, with nine wrestlers, won the team title with 68 points, and Havelock was third with nine wrestlers scoring 58 points.
Patriot women’s results:
Meghan Rowland, first place at 107 points
Rebecca Winkley, second place at 120
Saoirse Moler, second place at 152
Ava Weber, third place at 126
Jocelyn Mattingly, third place at 138
Union Pines had one wrestler compete in the women’s event, with Gabriella Bumgardner placing fourth at 114.
All rankings are from rankwrestklers.com
Photo: Union Pines wrestling team.
Courtesy photos/Contributed.
