Black Knights win traditional championship
Cherokee – The Black Knights continue to be the standard bearer in Smoky Mountain Conference wrestling.
After mowing through the divisional duals, Robbinsville carved up the competition in the conference’s traditional tournament at Cherokee on Jan. 22. Ten individual champions were crowned to help the Black Knights amass 223 team points, well ahead of second-place Hayesville with 122 points.
Robbinsville’s stand-alone champions were Adair Panama (120 pounds); Ayden Conley (126); Zander Lucksavage (132); Loxston Hooper (138); Devin Hall (144); Lleyton Hooper (150); Jerimiah Phillips (165); Luke Green (175); Brayden Lane (190) and Christian Koeller (215).
Panama only wrestled one bout, making short work of Hayesville’s Parker Hughes with a pinfall at 1:08. Conley scored an 18-2 technical fall over Hayesville’s Ethan Beechum to reach the finals, where he ran up another 16-1 technical on Swain County’s Seaborn Bradley. Lucksavage pinned his way to gold, dropping Hayesville’s Kaden Harbuck in 1:20 and Murphy’s Braden Edwards at 1:12.
Loxston Hooper pinned Cherokee’s Nakai Pheasant in just 35 seconds before polishing off Murphy’s Josiah Niebla via 15-0 technical fall. Hall picked up a pin against Cherokee’s Siah Teesateskie at 3:18 before scoring a 10-4 decision over Andrews’ Chase Beasley in the finals. Lleyton Hooper also had just one bout in the tournament, running up a 19-4 technical on Murphy’s Brody McFaddin.
Phillips attained a 14-2 majority decision over Murphy’s Anthony Catuto and pinned Cherokee’s Kimo Sokol.
Green only had to best Cherokee’s Darius Taylor in a grueling 4-3 bout, while Lane pinned Hayesville’s Edwin Nava at 1:40 and scored an 18-3 technical fall against Rosman’s Lee Birchfield.
Koeller rounded out the Knights’ championship lineup by pinning both Cherokee’s Blake Sequoyah at 1:06; and Andrews’ Hayden Virtanen at 3:37.
Elsewhere, Robbinsville’s Devin Burchfield (113) placed second in his weight class, while both Grady Emmons (106) and Austin Angelo (157) took fourth.
Seeding for the dual-team postseason will take place today. Visit The Graham Star on Facebook – or @KevinHensleyCNI on X – for updates on Robbinsville’s first- and second-round opposition.
Lady Knights
Robbinsville also crowed four champions in the girls’ bracket: Julia Vazquez (107), Alexis Miller (126), Alexis El-Khouri (132) and Myah Winfrey (145).
Jayden Chekelelee (120) and Madison Felton (138) both finished second in their respective brackets, while Milexa Jenkins (114) and Shayla Dominguez (135) each placed third in their field.
Individual bout results could not be obtained by The Graham Star’s press deadline Wednesday.
The Lady Knights finished third in the team race, compiling 122 points. Cherokee won the tournament, scoring 145.