Wrestling Media Guide.20.Pub
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WRESTLING GOLD TRIFECTA FOR DEKALB _2020 DEKALB COUNTY_ 1 DEKALB COUNTY WRESTLING GUIDE DEKALB COUNTY FACTS CONTENTS Address: 5829 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083 Wrestling history 2 2018-19 year in review 3 Phone Number: (678) 676-1821 2018-19 state results 4 Location: Northeast Atlanta 2018-19 region/area results 5 Number of Schools Sixteen 2018-19 county results 10 Arabia Mountain 11 Chamblee 12 DIRECTORY Clarkston 13 Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson Columbia 14 Athletic Director James Jackson Druid Hills 15 Athletic Coordinator Mike Harwell Dunwoody 16 Lakeside 17 Athletic Administrator Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith Lithonia 18 Wrestling Coordinator Chris Chilton Martin Luther King Jr. 19 Athletic Specialist Mark Brock McNair 20 Miller Grove 21 REGION ALIGNMENTS Redan 22 AAAAAAA-Region 7 Southwest DeKalb 23 Berkmar Meadowcreek Stephenson 24 Brookwood Norcross Stone Mountain 25 Central Gwinnett Parkview Tucker 26 Lakeside Individual state champions by school 27 Individual state champions by year 29 AAAAAA-Region 7 Individual county champions by school 33 Alpharetta Johns Creek Individual county champions by year 37 Cambridge North Atlanta County team champions by year 42 Centennial Northview County team champions by school 43 Chattahoochee Pope State team champions 44 Dunwoody County state sectional qualifiers 45 County state qualifiers 48 AAAAAA-Region 4 College scholarships 51 Charles Drew Mt. Zion Jonesboro Forest Park Mundy’s Mill CHAMBLEE EARNS ALL-SPORTS THREE-REPEAT Lovejoy Stephenson Martin Luther King Jr. Tucker Three state championships served as the driving force in lifting Morrow Chamblee to a third straight DeKalb County All -Sports Trophy title during the 2018 -19 school year. AAAAA-Region 5 The Bulldogs captured top state trophies in AAAAA girls swim- Arabia Mountain Lithonia ming in the winter and then swept AAAAA honors in both boys Chamblee Miller Grove and girls tennis in the spring. Clarkston Southwest DeKalb Columbia Final All-Sports Trophy Point totals: AAAA-Region 4 1) Chamblee 352.0 Druid Hills McDonough 2) Southwest DeKalb 307.0 Eastside North Clayton 3) Lakeside 301.0 Hampton Salem 4) Dunwoody 296.5 Luella Woodward Academy 5) Druid Hills 289.0 6) Tucker 287.5 7) Arabia Mountain 283.0 AAA-Area 3 8) Stephenson 237.5 Central Macon Rutland 9) Cedar Grove 207.5 Jackson Stone Mountain 10) Clarkston 192.5 Pike County Westside Macon 11) Martin Luther King Jr. 189.5 Redan 12) Miller Grove 160.0 13) Lithonia 159.0 AA-Area 4 14) Redan 155.5 Best Academy South Atlanta 15) Stone Mountain 150.0 Bremen Temple 16) Columbia 149.5 Callaway Therrell 17) Towers 93.5 Heard County Washington 18) McNair 85.0 McNair 19) Cross Keys 83.0 2 WRESTLING HISTORY Memorable coaches and a long line of individual and team state championships are just a small part of the illustrious histo- ry of wrestling in DeKalb County. Sam Black , Sam Edenfield , George Hogan , Mike Godlewski and Ed Winterstein are among the hallowed coaching figures that made DeKalb County the initial and clear dynasty in this sport in the 1960s. Robert Cooley , Pat Watkins , John Allen , Nick Janoulis , Bill Venable , Lee Medwick and Brian Hage among others added to the impressive local coaching resume in the 1970s, followed by Chuck Mize , Mike Chonko , Cecil Flowe and Maso Moon in the 1980s and Darrell Moore , Mark Adams and Shannon Miller in the 1990s. Only a handful of wrestlers have been talented enough to capture four state championships, and DeKalb County boasts two individuals on that list in Briarcliff’s Bucky Harrelson and Lithonia’s Arty McGuire . Harrelson claimed individual state titles in four different weight classes, starting at 127 pounds in 1961 and continuing at 133 in 1962, 145 in 1963 and 154 in 1964. McGuire began his equally amazing string at 105 pounds in 1973, and went on to add three more top crowns at 112 in 1974, 119 in 1975 and 126 in 1976. Black’s Briarcliff Barons dominated the sport of wrestling like no other in the early days, winning six straight state team titles from 1962 -67. McEachern would later go on to break that record streak in the 1990s. Along with Harrelson’s heroics, Mike Godlewski , Mike Swanson , Steve Godlewski , Donnie Massey , Ken Curl , Eddie Kalvelage , Randy Lane and Larry Graham won two individual state crowns each in helping to lead the way during this memorable stretch for a Briarcliff program that also won county seven consecutive times from 1962 -68. Cross Keys, Druid Hills and Avondale served as the primary challengers to Briarcliff in the battle for county and state su- premacy in the first six years after wrestling was first officially sanctioned in 1961. Edenfield guided Cross Keys to the first state team championship in the history of the sport in 1961. The Indians also cracked the top 10 in six of the next seven years in remaining a top power for most of the decade. Druid Hills finished in the top 10 as a team at state in each of the first seven years. The Red Devils also came the closest to unseating Briarcliff at county during that period, grabbing runnerup honors four straight times from 1965 -68. Legendary football skipper T. McFerrin served as the head coach in two of those county showings. Crawford Kennedy ran the show for an Avondale wrestling juggernaut that gained a share of the county title with Briarcliff in 1962. The Blue Devils also placed in the top 10 as a team at state on seven occasions in the 1960s. Tommy Carlisle , David Cooper , Paul Senkbeil and Charlie Coats of Avondale and Bill “The Animal” Glass of Druid Hills are just a few of the super individual stars that made these schools into top county and state forces. Walker emerged as the next local power in the late 1960s under the leadership of Hogan. The War Hawks nearly matched Briarcliff’s state streak, winning five consecutive crowns from 1967 -71. Walker also won three straight county championships from 1969 -71. Ron Harris and Russell Gardner won two individual state titles to lead the way. Chamblee and Columbia next took center stage for most of the 1970s, combining to win six consecutive county titles from 1974 -79 and six state crowns in the same period. Cooley’s Chamblee powerhouse rose to the top of the county pack five times in the 1970s, winning the top prize in 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1979. The Bulldogs also topped the AAA state field in 1974 and AAAA in 1979. John “Horsemeat” Stewart , Alan Stewart , Cody Conarro , Paul Stewart , Danny Hovey , Robert Hovey and Frank Hovey are among a large group of state champs that shined individually for Chamblee. Columbia followed a slightly different path under the leadership of Godlewski, roaring to four state crowns in 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977. The Eagles, meanwhile, took home their lone county triumph in 1976. Tip Jimerson , Jay Frost and John Plavcan paced the individual charge with two state triumphs each. Stone Mountain in 1969 and Lithonia in 1971 also registered state team victories in the latter part of the first 10 years of wrestling’s existence on the high school level. Towers has ranked as perhaps the most consistent program in the county from the start. The Titans won their lone state title in 1975 under Medwick and have more top 10 team finishes than any team in the county at 28. Clay Haydon at 112, Danny Wallace at 126 and Jack Owens at 145 claimed individual triumphs in leading the way for the Titans in the state championship campaign of 1975. Hage led Avondale to county and state team crowns in 1983 and then proceeded to guide Redan to county titles in 1984, 1985, 1990 and 1991 and a state triumph in 1984. Mize won a state championship at Redan in 1983, while Columbia topped the AAAA field under Moon in 1988 and Janou- lis led Lakeside to the head of the AAA pack in 1997 for the final state victory. 3 2018 -19 WRESTLING YEAR IN REVIEW Dunwoody and Stone Mountain garnered much of the local acclaim during a 2018 -19 school year that also saw DeKalb County wrestlers shine in the first state competition for girls on the individual level. Coach Luke McSorley ’s Dunwoody Wildcats pulled out a thrilling team triumph at the William S. Ve- nable DeKalb County Varsity Championships a year ago, taking home top honors for the third time in the last four years. Dunwoody registered 186 points in the final team standings to narrowly defeat the strong challenges of runner -up Southwest DeKalb (181) and Stone Mountain (180). Decatur (157), Stephenson (136), Lakeside (135) and Marist (135) also put together impressive perfor- mances in just finishing out of the top three on the medal podium. Five Wildcats advanced to the gold medal round in leading the way on the individual front in Dun- woody’s county team title march. Junior Charles McCown took center stage there for Dunwoody, claiming the lone championship round victory for the school at 195 pounds. Sophomore Parker Smith at 126, senior Luke Pankey at 145, senior Jack Holloway at 160 and sopho- more Tyler Rush at 182 settled for stellar silver medal results for the Wildcats. Dunwoody also picked up crucial points from freshman Adam Starks at 113 (4th), sophomore Ben Tarrago at 120 (4th), junior Ethan Carter at 152 (6th) and junior Curtis Holloway at 170 (4th). Coach Keith Johnson ’s Southwest DeKalb Panthers went 1 -3 in championship matches and tallied nine overall medals in taking home second place by just five points behind Dunwoody. Sophomore Jahiem Williams snared the lone victorious outing for the Panthers while walking away with a gold medal at 145 pounds.