By Allen Hamrick
The Clay County Panther wrestling team was on the road this past weekend at Braxton County High School to compete in the Braxton County Invitational.
They faced some of the toughest competition of the year at this tournament. Forty teams went head-to-head, and most of those teams were stacked with ranked wrestlers, so to say it would be a tough road to the finals would be an understatement.
With hours upon hours of preparation, focus and training under the belts, the Panthers were geared for a smack down and were ready to hit the mats running, but… A wave of sickness hit the team, and bad weather forced the Panthers to carry on with just a few wrestlers. However, when those few wrestlers hit the mats, other teams knew the Panthers were in the house. No matter where CCHS wrestlers go and no matter if they are down in numbers, they are the ones to beat. With that being said, the wrestlers that represent CCHS give it one hundred percent plus some extra, and considering the caliber of wrestlers at this event, they did pretty well. The team was 22nd out of 40 teams, and Landon Delwarte placed 6th, Eddie Metheney placed 8th, Cameron Nelson placed 10th and Jaxon Gross placed 9th. The CCHS wrestling team is not in the business of whining; they suck it up and move on to the next match, which in this case will be at Hoover this weekend. Hopefully all the CCHS wrestlers will be healthy enough to compete.
In other wrestling news, Lady Panther wrestlers Jayda Stricker and Zaiah Minger participated in the Cornelius Godfrey Memorial Tournament in Logan where Jada placed 5th and Zaiah placed 2nd.
