Photo by Amy Tatro
With one of its most anticipated dual matches in team history on the horizon, the Cedar Ridge wrestling squad crowned another individual champion during its annual trip to Cary.
On Saturday, senior Kaden Tatro won his second individual championship of the season at the Green Hope Grapple at Green Hope High School on Saturday. It was his fifth individual championship.
Cedar Ridge placed four wrestlers to finish in fifth place in the team standings with 130 points. Athens Drive, who won the team championship at the Red Wolf Invitational last month, claimed the team title in Green Hope, as well, with 174 points. Cape Fear finished second with 154 points.
Competing at 175 pounds, Tatro received the #2 seed and wasn’t taken beyond the second period in any of his four matches. In the championship match, he defeated the top seed Dominic Hittepole of Wheatmore via pinball in 3:15. Tatro took down Hittepole in a mere 19 seconds to open the match and led 2-1 at the end of the first period. Starting from the bottom to open the second period, Tatro notched a reversal and earned the pin after he shifted his body weight forward on top of Hittepole to earn the pin.
Tatro is now 13-0 this season with seven pints and six technical falls. In the second round in Cary, Tatro pinned Webb Crumpler of Broughton in 1:16. He scored the first of two tech falls in the quarterfinals when he defeated Matthew Schneider of Overhills 15-0 in 2:28. Tatro earned a spot in the championship match with a a 15-0 tech fall over James Lee of Western Harnett in 3:12.
Tatro, a senior, now has 122 career wins, the sixth Red Wolf wrestler in history with 100 career wins. He needs eight more to tie Randy Greenough for fourth place on the all-time Cedar Ridge list. The all-time leader is Chandler Collins, who compiled 166 wins from 2003-2007.
Cedar Ridge senior James Este-Wittinger finished second at 190 pounds. Este-Wittinger, a fullback and linebacker on the football team, defeated Baby Soles of South View 5-1 in the semifinals. Zaid Marjan of Athens Drive won over Este-Wittinger in the finals. In the second round, Este-Wittinger pinned Trenton Westbrook of Cape Fear in 4:31. Este-Wittinger won an exciting match over Canon Thoren of Sanderson 3-2 in the quarterfinals. With the match even 2-2 going into the final period, Este-Wittinger won after getting an escape point with 1:16 remaining.
At 157 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Ryan Rakouskas finished in second place. Rakouskas, who won at 157 pounds in the Red Wolf Invitational, defeated Thomas Gingerich of Green Level 8-1 in the semifinals. Deshawn Cary of Harnett Central defeated Rakouskas 12-5 in the championship match.
Rakouskas pinned Hunter Langdon-Adams of Cleveland in the second round in 1:20. In the quarterfinals, Rakouskas defeated Jose Pereira of Wakefield 10-3.
At 113 pounds, Favio Jaramillo finished in third place. In the consolation final, Jaramillo defeated Christopher Geiger of Athens Drive 7-5 in the opening sudden victory round. In another tight finish, Geiger forced overtime with an escape point with six seconds remaining in the opening period. Jaramillo needed only 18 seconds to score the winning takedown in the extra round.
Jaramillo, who finished third at 106 pounds in the Red Wolf Invitational, defeated Max Bojdo of Sanderson 13-6 in the second round. Brian Dopp of South View held off Jaramillo 7-4 in the quarterfinals. Jaramillo defeated Hunter Barns of Wakefield 6-1 in the consolation semifinals.
Cedar Ridge has started 2-o in the Central Conference. On November 21, the Red Wolves won its league opener over Person 45-30, keyed by six pins. Tatro defeated David Garrett at 175 pounds. Rakouskas pined Addison Carey, while Jaramillo pinned Ryan Wilson at 106 pounds. Pierce Prescod, competing at 120 pounds, pinned Taveon Moss.
Last week, Cedar Ridge defeated Southern Alamance 52-24 in Graham. Grayson Collins, Rakouskas, Joe O’Melia, Jaramillo and Nathan Vendura all had pins for the Red Wolves. Tatro and Prescod both had technical falls.
Cedar Ridge will host Orange in a quad meet on Wednesday night.