By Christian Malone
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA — Wrestlers from the eight Region 1-AAAAA schools will compete today in the region tournament.
The tournament will be held at Lowndes High School. The wrestling begins at 10 a.m. and lasts all day. The finals are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Admission to the tournament is $7.
“I think it will be (a good tournament),” Lowndes head coach Spencer Graybeal said. “I think this year, every weight class has somebody in it that’s pretty tough. And there are some weight classes that are a little deeper.
“I think, overall, as a region, we’re better this year than we ever have been.”
There will be three mats on the Lowndes gym floor, enabling three matches to take place at one time.
Lowndes is the defending region champion. Last year, the Vikings earned 223 team points, 37 more than second-place Valdosta, and had five individual region champions.
Lowndes’ Jay Durden will try to earn his second region title today. He was the 112-pound champion last year, and will be competing at 119 pounds today. Lowndes’ Dillon Wynn (second) and Dion Crenshaw (third) both placed at the region tournament last year, and hope to have another good showing this year.
Lowndes finished second at the region dual championship last month.
“We’re looking pretty solid going in,” Graybeal said. “We beat Central Gwinnett the other night in a pretty good match. We’ve had about a week of rest, and we’re ready to go this weekend. We don’t really have any injuries right now.”
“(Our team) has matured a lot this year,” Graybeal added.
Valdosta will try to add a region traditional title to the 1-AAAAA dual team title it won last month. The Wildcats dominated the dual tournament, and wound up finishing fourth at the state dual tournament in Macon.
Valdosta has two defending region champions back this year. Javon Scott, a junior, will go for his third region title in three years today. Sophomore Marshawn Sharp, last year’s 103-pound champion, will try to add a 112-pound region title today.
Valdosta’s Robert Jones, Ramone Durr, Jake Davis, Kris Brown and Demetrius Harden all placed in the top four in the region last year.
There will also be teams from Houston County, Tift County, Colquitt County, Warner Robins, Northside and Coffee High Schools competing in the tournament.
The top four placers in each weight class at the region tournament will move on to the sectional tournament next weekend in Tifton.
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Region 1-AAAAA wrestling tournament today at Lowndes
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