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Sidney Sullens won the 146-pound class at the Girls Sectional in Perry last weekend. (Photo/Staci Sulhoff)
White County has four wrestlers in Macon this weekend, chasing a Class AAAA state championship.
Sidney Sullens, Devin Sullens, Sean Wurtz and Justin Gilbert make up the Warrior contingent at the state finals, which began this morning in Macon.
The four WCHS wrestlers earned a spot in the state finals with a Top 8 finish last week at the state sectionals in Perry. Sidney Sullens is all set to make a run at the 142-pound title after winning the sectional title, while her brother Devin picked up a runner-up spot in the 285-pound division at the sectional meet. Wurtz finished fifth in the 132-pound class, and Gilbert was seventh in the 170-pound class.
The state finals kicked off this morning at the Macon Centreplex with hundreds of wrestlers competing for all classifications in the boys and girls divisions.
The first round and quarterfinals will be held today, along with the first round of wrestle backs (consolation matches).
On Friday, action begins at 9 a.m., with the second round of wrestle backs, followed by the championship semifinals at 2 p.m. Consolation quarterfinals and semifinals will also begin at 2 p.m.
On Saturday, fifth place matches begin at 9 a.m., followed by third place matches at 11 a.m.
The opening ceremony for the championship finals will be held at 1 p.m., with the championship matches set for 2:30 p.m. The girls' division will be held first, followed by the boys' division, beginning with an 106-pound matches.
Sectional results
Sidney Sullens, who finished second last year in the girls' 152-pound division at the Class AAAA tournament, looks ready to make a run at a state title in the 146-pound division this year. Sullens dominated the seven-wrestler field at the sectional meet, posting a 3-0 record to earn the title.
Sullens, who has complied a 19-11 record this year competing mainly against boys, needed only 21 seconds to pin Hampton's Hannah Delgado in the opening round, and then dispatched Discovery's Violeta Rios in 13 seconds in the semifinal round. In the championship match, Sullens and Chestatee's Ashley Godinez battled for almost three rounds before Sullens finished things off with a pin at the 5:15 mark.
Sullens is one of 16 wrestlers in the hunt for a state title this weekend in Macon. Sullens opens with a match against Newnan's Maddie Steiner.
The 146-pound division also North Forsyth's Sophia Eglian, who won the state title in the weight class last year. The only way Sullens and Eglian will meet would be in the state title match on Saturday. Godinez, who took Sullens deep into the third period last week, along with Harris County Mia Buckner, the Sectional 4 champion, are in Sullens side of the bracket.
Devin Sullens, who finished second last year in the 285-pound division at the state tournament, earned a spot in the field by finishing second at the sectional meet.
Sullens had little trouble in the sectional tournament until he got to the finals. Blessed Trinity Jackson Filipowicz, the 2019 state champion in the 220-pound division, managed to pull off a win over Sullens, taking the match by a 6-3 decision.
Sullens earned a spot in the finals with a 40-second pin over McDonough's Jamari David. In the semifinals, Sullens had a first period pin of Cedartown's Kobe Holloway.
Sullens opens the state tournament today with a match against Madison County's Nate Krickel. With a win Sullens could be facing a rematch from last year's state finals with West Laurens Spencer Daccus, who takes on Northwest Whitfield's Isaac Phillips in the first round. LaFayette's Matthew Walin, who is 39-4, is also in Sullens quadrant of the bracket, while Filipowicz is is on the opposite side of the bracket. The 7-AAAA wrestlers can only meet in the championship match at the state tournament.
Wurtz posted a 4-2 record during the sectional tournament to earn a state finals spot in his senior year. Wurtz recorded a pin in the opening round of the sectional meet over Mary Persons' Charley Ryles, but dropped a 15-4 decision to Central-Carrollton's CJ Shandinger in the quarterfinals.
In the consolation rounds, Wurtz had a pin over Troup County's Thomas Fuller and West Laurens' Bobby Beasley, before dropped a 11-3 decision to Flowery Branch's Colton Murphy. Wurtz bounced back to knock of Perry's Jordan Karchella in the fifth place match.
Wurtz takes on Northwest Whitfield's Alex Robinson in an opening round match today in Macon.
Gilbert earned his first trip to the state finals with a seventh-place finish in the 170-pound division. Gilbert opened the sectional meet by pinning Perry's Dalton Blount in the second period, but was knocked off in the quarterfinals by Woodward Academy's Malachi Wiley. In the consolation bracket, Gilbert pinned Blessed Trinity's Max Post, but dropped a 6-3 decision to Cedartown's Roy Tracey. In the seventh-place match, Gilbert pinned Blount for the second time at the tournament.d
Gilbert opens action at the state tournament today against Shaw's Marquis Sanabria.
Seth Stonecypher went 1-2 in the 182-pound division. He knocked off Cartersville's Rashad Hurst with a second period pin during the opening round, but dropped the next two matches. In the 126-pound class, Michael Harris went 1-2 at the sectional meet, earning a pin over Chapel Hills' Dominick Lowe in a consolation bracket match. Cam Winkler competed in the 120-pound division, finishing with an 0-2 record.