Area wrestlers take first in Cleveland’s Pruitt Rainey Invitational; Croatan edges Hunt for title
Sometimes an athlete has one of those good days he isn’t going to forget for a long time.
And that happened for several area wrestlers on Saturday at the Pruitt Rainey Invitational at Cleveland High.
Not only did 106-pounder Alec Montoya get brand new Apex Friendship its biggest win in any sport, but the Marcin twins from Jordan got back-to-back golds.
The 5-1, 101-pound sophomore Montoya defeated Wilson Fike’s Blake Edwards in a 7-4 squeaker to lead off the program.
And then the Falcons’ Micah Marcin, who was named the match’s most valuable wrestler, dominated Croatan’s Tyger Hall 19-5 at 145 to earn most valuable wrestler honors before his fellow senior and twin brother Maliik walloped Triton’s Jeffrey Hannah 15-0 for a tech fall at 152.
Two Johnston county wrestlers won championships, as Cleveland’s Trevor Bryant pinned Croatan’s Dawson Posten in 2:25 at 195 pounds while West Johnston’s Jonathan Rose stopped Cameron Noble of Greater Neuse River 4A rival Knightdale in 3:50 at 285.
Croatan, which is from Carteret County, won the team standings with 197.5 points to 144 for Hunt and 116 for Cleveland. Other area teams in the top ten were Sanderson, sixth at 99.5; Corinth Holders, seventh at 74; Jordan, ninth at 61.5; and West, 10th at 59.
“I was just excited to be here,” said the freshman Montoya, who improved to 15-5 in winning his first high school gold medal. “I was good on my feet and stayed off the bottom. My high crotch move worked well today.”
First-year Friendship coach Kyle Baird was effusive in his praise for Montoya.
“I’m kind of speechless right now,” Baird said. “He was good on his feet, he wrestled his match and he controlled the match. He didn’t lose his head and he just kept after it.”
Micah Marcin said he wanted to get as many takedowns as he could, let his opponent escape and take him down again.
“I want to score 15 points every match no matter what,” Micah Marcin said. “My single-leg cut is my best attack and I just kept hitting it.”
Said Maliik Marcin, who has won three tournaments but got his first of the season.
“I just kept repeating to myself before the match ‘I’m the best wrestler here. I’m the best wrestler here. I’m the best wrestler here,’ ” Maliik Marcin said. “I just couldn’t let him pin me. I knew if I got the first takedown I was going to win.”
First-year Jordan coach C.C. Fisher said he was excited about the family double.
“That’s pretty cool,” said first-year Jordan coach C.C. Fisher, a former All-American at Riverside High and UNC. “That’s the first time they have ever won a tournament on the same day. Micah is more of a takedown guy and Maliik is more of a mat wrestler. Mallik is just bigger, so he wrestles at the higher weight.”
Bryant said it was satisfying to win a big tournament on his home mat.
“I just threw him and rolled him and put him on his back,” said the junior Bryant, who has two tournament titles. “We’re going through some tough times as a team, but I hope how we performed this weekend will pick us up some.”
Rose had defeated Noble in their only previous meeting last season.
“I just had to keep my hips up and not give up,” said the junior, who said he played six interior line positions for the Wildcat football team in the fall. “This was a nice win. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Area runners-up included Charles Pumbu of Knightdale at 132, Adrian Davenport of Sanderson at 138 and Leo Berber of Cleveland at 160.
This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Area wrestlers take first in Cleveland’s Pruitt Rainey Invitational; Croatan edges Hunt for title."