DeKalb Has 84 Wrestlers Qualify for State Sectionals

The Class AAAAA DeKalb wrestlers travel to Tift County for their sectional beginning on Friday at 4 p.m. and all finals matches (1st-8th place) begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Stephenson finished just 4.5 points behind Newnan in the Area 2-AAAAA team standings to take the runner-up slot.

The Jaguars have five area champions headed to the sectional including Jabari Collins (120), Stephen Wylie (152), Darian Perry (160), Mike Gates (195) and Brandon Addison (285).

The other Jaguars headed to sectionals are Torsha Bazz (106, 3rd), Dexter Brown (113, 2nd) and Henry Williams (126, 2nd).

Aubrey Seals who took silver in the 170 class at Area leads three Martin Luther King Jr. wrestlers headed to sectionals including Frederick Sims (145, 4th) and Devonte McLemore (220, 4th).

AAAA DeKalb County had 45 wrestlers qualify for the State Sectionals to be held at Loganville on Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday's finals set for a 2:30 start.

Southwest DeKalb picked up three gold medals in finished second behind Marist in Area 6-AAAA competition and five other qualifiers for the sectional. Undefeated Gabriel Echols (32-0) captured the 285 class to lead the Panthers while Anthony Kaigler (126) and Cory Strickland (145) also took home gold medals. Miller Grove took third in the area just five points behind Southwest DeKalb also had eight qualifiers and three champions to move on to sectionals.

Carlton Benjamin (120), Alton Hill (132) and Jacob Mitchell (220) captured gold at Area. The Lithonia Bulldogs came in just 3.5 points behind Miller Grove for fourth in Area 6-AAAA while qualifying eight wrestlers for sectionals. Anthony Smith kept his 2012 record unblemished at 21-0 as he took gold in the 152 division.

Dunwoody was fifth in the Area 6-AAAA final team standings after winning three gold medals and qualifying five wrestlers for sectionals. Sunny Sharma reversed a loss to Tucker's at the DeKalb County Championships to win the 106 division while Keith Palmer (160) and Elias Fleishman (170) also captured gold. Lakeside had six wrestlers qualify for sectionals and Redan had four including 182 division gold medal winner James Philpot.

Chamblee had two qualify for sectional and Tucker had one. AAA DeKalb had 26 state qualifiers including eight Area champions to move on to the State Sectional at Riverwood on Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday's finals set for a 2:30 start. McNair coming off of its first ever DeKalb County team championship came up just 13 points short of first place Woodward Academy for the Area 5-AAA title.

The Mustangs captured six gold medals at Area while qualifying 11 wrestlers for the sectional. Khalil Williams (120), Zeontae McCoy (132), Michael Corley (16), Dontavious Smith (182), D.J. Jackson (220) and Kevin Barner (285) were the gold medal winners for the Mustangs.

Arabia Mountain finished fifth at Area and qualified five wrestlers for sectionals including the 113 class winner Alema Favors. Stone Mountain was in sixth and qualified four wrestlers for sectional which included gold medal winner Damian Schofield at 152.

Columbia qualified four wrestlers for state while Druid Hills and Cedar Grove each qualified one. AA Clarkston had a pair of wrestlers qualify for sectionals out of Area 6-AA as silver medalist Gashaw Belete (132) and bronze medalist Leqwan Petty (145) advanced. The two wrestlers head to the AA sectional at Greater Atlanta Christian on Friday and Saturday.

Mark Brock is the Statistician and Information Officer for DeKalb County Schools Athletics.