Carrboro wrestler Quincy Monday named MVP of the Tiger Classic
Quincy Monday added another nice piece of hardware to his trophy case on Friday.
And it was a really good day for wrestlers from Orange County and the Big 8 3A conference.
Carrboro’s 132-pounder junior defeated Sammy Peticos of Forest City’s Chase High 6-2 in the title match as the two-time Texas state champion was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the 24th Tiger Holiday Classic.
Monday was one of three area wrestlers to win their individual championships, as Orange’s Payton Wilson beat Cade Smith of Hope Mills’ South View High 10-3 at 220 pounds and Northwood’s Hunter Queen nipped Matt Ceparano of Southern Alamance 6-5 to claim the championship at 182.
Two other area entries were finalists, as Southern Durham’s Matthew Darby fell to Will Newbern of West Carteret 11-5 in the final at 195 and Carrboro senior Emanuel Oquaye dropped an 8-0 decision to Southeast Guilford’s Evan Surgeon at 285.
Southeast Guilford won the team championship with 185.5 points, followed by Greensboro’s Ben L. Smith with 170.5, Orange at 159, Southern Alamance at 138.5 and Carrboro at 120. Forty-four schools from four states competed in the tournament.
“There were some great wrestlers in this tournament,” said Monday, who was also MOW at Knightdale and won his third tournament title of the season to improve to 12-0. “I trained right, and I just need to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
Orange junior Wilson (18-0) is a two-sport standout, with 15 Division I football offers as a linebacker.
“I came out aggressive and was really good with my feet,” said Wilson, who won his third tournament of the season. “I was third here last year, so this was a lot better.”
Northwood senior Queen (22-1) is headed to wrestle for North Carolina in the fall.
“I think I’ve been wrestling (Ceparano) since I was seven or eight years old,” said Queen, who won his fourth tournament of the season. “I’m feeling pretty good about things right now. I lost a match I shouldn’t have lost at the WRAL Tournament at Athens Drive but I bounced back from my mistake.”
Four other Orange wrestlers finished in the medals as Daylen Austin was fifth at 285, Jamar Davis fifth at 195, Josiah Ramirez fifth at 170 and Mitchell Askew sixth at 106.
“This is awesome, having more than 40 teams here with this quality,” said Orange coach Bobby Shriner, whose team has competed in every Tiger Classic. “This is close to what we’ll see at state championships, and in some weight classes it’s better.”
He continued: “Wilson is a tremendous God-gifted athlete who has a lot of talent for two sports. He’s one of the tougher upper-weight guys we’ve had at Orange. We lost a few heartbreakers here, but our guys did well in a tough tournament.”
Shriner, who is in his 28th season at the helm, will take his team to compete in the tournament at his high school alma mater in New Jersey during the Christmas break.
Carrboro placed Victor Monnet third at 113, David Veltri fifth at 152 and Otto Wolin sixth at 126.
“I feel good about how we did,” Carrboro coach DeWitt Driscoll said. “We’re getting better and better, and we outplaced all the other 2A teams here. We’ve got a good squad.”
Holly Springs had a trio of fourth-place finishers with Jake Maroney at 152, Hunter Morton at 138 and Hunter Yost at 160.
Host Chapel Hill’s William Hess was fifth at 160 and Bradley Kenyon sixth at 195.
“We were really happy,” said Chapel Hill’s long-time coach and tournament founder Tripp Price. “We had to change the format since we were in school yesterday. Everything ran on time and the level of competition was tremendous. I thought the depth of this tournament was better than it has been in the last couple of years.”
Heritage’s Sherriff Njie was the third-place finisher at 152, Clayton’s Luke Foster fifth at 182, Cary Academy’s Christian Sodano fifth at 126 and Voyager Academy’s Ronald Whitt sixth at 120.
This story was originally published December 24, 2016 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Carrboro wrestler Quincy Monday named MVP of the Tiger Classic."