After winning his 100th career match in November, Ryan Rakouskas became the latest Cedar Ridge wrestler to celebrate 100 career pins.

In the quarterfinals of the Coach T Memorial Classic at Riverside High School in Durham on Saturday, Rakouskas pinned Topsail’s Luke Williams in 4:00 for his 100th career pinfall. It came two weeks after Rakouskas teammate, Pierce Prescod, earned his 100th career pin.

Rakouskas competed against Williams twice. In the consolation final, Rakouskas pinned Williams again, this time in 3:43, to earn third place in the tournament. Rakouskas improved to 39-6 on the season with 27 pins. He surpassed Randy Greenough for sixth on the all-time schools career win list.

Speaking of which, senior Pierce Prescod continues to move closer to the all-time record, held by Chandler Collins, with 166 career wins. Prescod is now at 152 wins after finishing 2nd in the 120-pound weight division. In the semifinals, Prescod pinned Santos Marin of Wakefield in 3:01 for his 152nd career victory, surpassing Josh Collins for third place on the all-time list. Prescod, who is looking to qualify for the state championships for the first time, lost in the finals to Cape Fear’s Mac Johnson, who was the #3 seed.

Kaden Tatro, who graduated from Cedar Ridge, is #2 in school history with 159 wins.

In the women’s tournament, Cedar Ridge freshman Thalia Paterno continued an impressive rookie year with a second place finish at 100 pounds. In a round-robin event, Paterno score pins in each of her opening three matches, none of which exceeded one minute. Paterno pinned Kaleigh Poteat of Southeast Alamance in 13 seconds; pinned Ashley Smith of Wakefield in 37 seconds and finished Anai Carrillo of Cardinal Gibbons in 50 seconds.

It set up a championship match with Morgan Carpenter of Pine Forest, who had also won her opening three matches. Carpenter scored a pin at 4:49. This season, Paterno has won three individual championships at the Red Wolf Invitational, the Jim King/Orange Invitational and the Eagle Invitational in Mebane.

At 113 pounds in the men’s tournament, Cedar Ridge junior Favio Jaramillo captured 3rd place in a tournament where he scored three wins to boast his record to 37-8 on the season. Jaramillo, who won the championship of the Eagle Invitational last month, dominated Bennett Teague of Southern Alamance 16-3 in the 3rd place match. Jaramillo, seeded #2, scored a technical fall over Jaxton Couch of Pine Forest 19-3. In the consolation semfinals, Jaramillo defeated Jacob Keel of Rolesville 19-11. Top-seeded Spencer Sterling of Cardinal Gibbons won the 113-pound championship with an 11-4 decision over Jacob Pope of Topsail.

Sophomore Alejandro Briones had tough luck in a fourth-place finish at 144 pounds. Briones, who is 37-8 on the year, won his quarterfinal match over Troy Crain of Seaforth. Broughton’s Benjamin Zeren scored a takedown in the third period to defeat Briones in the semifinals 9-6. Briones pinned Wesley Taylor of Cape Fear to reach the third place match. Cardinal Gibbons’ Derek Mason a takedown with :08 remaining to edge Briones 10-9 in the consolation final.

In the women’s tournament, Cedar Ridge’s Chloe Pankratz finished fourth at 138 pounds. Pankratz, a senior who won the JKO tournament in December, opened with a pin over Izabella Roldan of Curritcuk County. Italia Squicciarini of Topsail pinned Pankratz in the second round robin match. Katie Lloyd of Southeast Alamance pinned Pankratz in the 3rd place match.

Cedar Ridge’s Carolina DonJuan was the only entrant in her weight class and claimed first place at 235 pounds.

On Saturday, Cedar Ridge will compete in the Central Conference Championships at Williams High School in Broughton. Briones and Prescod each won their respective conference championships last year in Burlington.

For the first time, there will be a conference tournament for women’s wrestling. This season, Cedar Ridge had several dual women’s matches, including wins over Person, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill, Walter Williams and Southern Alamance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *