Murphy’s Weston Adams and Anthony Catuto, as well as Andrews’ Hayden Virtanen, performed well at the 1/2A West Regional tournament and punched their ticket to the state tournament.
Virtanen is just the fifth wrestler in Andrews history to qualify for the state tournament. Murphy had 13 wrestlers qualify for the regional tournament, while Andrews had three.
A total of 16 Cherokee County wrestlers competed Friday and Saturday with hopes of a trip to the state tournament in Greensboro on Friday and Saturday. Ivy Werner of Murphy also competed in the girls regional, but came up just shy of going to state.
Murphy boys
With strong showings at the 1/2A West Regional, Adams and Catuto are heading to state. After a first-round bye in the 106-pound weight class, Adams fell in the quarterfinals.
He then picked up wins in the second and third rounds of the consolation bracket. In the consolation semifinals, he got a pinfall win to advance to the third-place match, which he lost by fall but still secured his spot in the state tournament.
Catuto got a first-round bye in the 165-pound division, then got a pinfall win over Darius Taylor of Cherokee in the quarterfinals. He lost by majority decision to Jerimiah Phillips of Robbinsville in the semifinals.
Catuto picked up a win in the consolation semifinals to earn a spot in the third-place match. He defeated Collin Crater of Starmount by pinfall to secure third place and a spot in the state tournament.
Lucas Castell competed in the 113-pound division. He got a win in the first round, then fell in the quarterfinals. His day came to an end with a decision loss in the second round of the consolation bracket.
James Garrett competed but had two straight losses for his day to come to an end.
Braden Edwards started his tournament with two straight wins. He lost to Zander Lucksavage of Robbinsville in the semifinals, then fell in the consolation semifinals.
Josiah Niebla started with a pinfall win, then earned a technical fall win in the quarterfinals. He lost in the semifinals by technical fall, then again in the consolation semifinals.
Brayden Gunter lost in the opening round, then earned a win in the first round of the consolation bracket. He lost in the second round for his tournament to end.
Brodi Haines lost in the first round, then he got a bye in the first round of the consolation bracket. He got a win in the second round before falling in the third.
Brody McFaddin got a win in the first round, then fell in the quarterfinals. He got a win in the second round of the consolation bracket before falling in the third.
Branson Crocker fell in the first round of the tournament. After receiving a bye in the consolation bracket, he lost in the second round.
Jonathan Cowan lost in the first round, then picked up a win in the first round of the consolation bracket. He lost in the second round.
Kane Gibson lost in the first round, but earned a win in the first round of the consolation bracket. His tournament came to an end with a loss in the second round.
Reese Haney lost in the first round, and his tournament ended with a loss in the first round of the consolation bracket.
Andrews boys
The Wildcats had three wrestlers compete in the regional tournament, with Virtanen punching his ticket to state.
Virtanen started the tournament with a win over Mijo Salinas-Wike of Swain in the first round. In the quarterfinals, he fell to Christian Koeller of Robbinsville by a 6-4 decision.
He then earned wins in the consolation second and third round, as well as the consolation semifinals, to earn a spot in the third-place match.
In the third-place match, he lost by pinfall. Despite the loss, he earned a spot in the state tournament in the 215-pound weight class.
Chase Beasley also competed in the tournament and started with a win in the first round. He lost in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with a win in the second round of the consolation bracket over Siah Teesateskie of Cherokee.
Beasley then lost in the third round of the consolation bracket for his tournament to come to an end. AJ Johnson also competed, suffering two straight losses.
Murphy girl
Werner was the only girl from the Murphy wrestling team to qualify for the tournament. She wrestled in five matches on Feb. 11 in the 1-4A West Regional.
She opened the tournament with a pinfall win to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Werner lost by pinfall.
In the consolation bracket, she earned a win over Elaynah Cogdill of Swain County to advance. In the third round of the consolation bracket, she earned another pinfall win to advance to the consolation semifinals.
Her day came to an end with a pinfall loss in the consolation semifinals.