Titans send 3 to States

CONNELLY SPRINGS — No matter how you shake the milk, the cream always rises to the top.
Three McDowell Titans wrestlers rose to the occasion as they placed in the top four at last weekend's 4A Western Regionals at East Burke, earning trips to the 4A State Championship tournament, which will be held at Lawrence-Joel Veterans' Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem on Friday and Saturday.
As a team, McDowell totaled 57 points, placing 12th out of 21 teams represented. Butler, who came in second in last week's state dual team finals, won the tournament with 169 points. Northwestern 4A Conference rivals Freedom and East Burke finished in second and third place, respectively.
Individually, McDowell was led — as always — by their senior captain, Caleb Null.
The state's 12th-ranked grappler at 125 pounds went 3-1 in the tournament and captured third place.
Null's run to the bronze medal began as he pinned Ardrey Kell's James Clute and Crest's James Glenn to advance to Saturday's semifinals.
In the semis, Null squared off against conference nemesis James Taber of South Caldwell. Null (35-7) fought Taber tooth-and-nail before suffering a pinfall loss with 35 seconds remaining in the bout.
Despite falling out of championship contention, Null fought back to qualify for the big dance by picking up a pair of minor decisions over Will Burch of Weddington and Samuel McArthur of Myers Park.
Junior co-captain Jacob Hensley (152 pounds) also advanced to Winston-Salem with a 3-1 mark and a third-place finish.
Hensley began the tournament with a second-period pin of Dwayne Jenkins of Independence and ended the first day of competition with a win over rival Aaron Queen of East Burke by decision.
Hensley (31-12) began the next day on the wrong foot as he lost to Joseph De La Riva of Alexander Central for the third time this year.
While dejected over the loss, Hensley was determined to make the podium as he won a 9-6 decision over league adversary David Crouch of South Caldwell.
Hensley replicated the outcome of his previous clash, capturing the bronze over Berry Academy's James Hicks by the same 9-6 margin.
The surprise of the tournament for McDowell came in the form of the team's smallest grappler, Patrick Lee.
The freshman 103-pounder took home fourth place and qualified for the state tournament.
Lee (19-10) persevered despite a painful back ailment.
Lee began the tournament by easily dispatching A.J. Borsotti of Freedom just 23 seconds into the fray.
Kush Shah of Butler became the victim of a pin by Lee in the quarterfinals.
He then faced off against 7th-ranked Josh Smith of Ashbrook.
Smith, who eventually won the 103-pound title, wasted no time in defeating Lee, cruising to a 19-4 technical fall.
In the consolation finals, Lee went up against Ben Asefa of East Mecklenburg, but was forced to default due to the back injury at the end of the first period.
Lee's status is listed as day-to-day, but he should be ready to participate at states.
Junior co-captain Nathan Marsh went 3-1 on the weekend but fell one victory shy of making the championship. Marsh (171-pounds, 20-17) pinned Patrick Cauthen of Myers Park to begin the competition but lost a 10-9 nailbiter to Joe Centrella of Weddington.
In the consolation rounds, Marsh scored a second-period pin over Chase Warren of Ashbrook, and then triumphed over Joshua Boone of Butler by minor decision. Marsh gave a gutsy effort in the consolation semifinals against Dillon Smith of East Gaston, but was eliminated by pinfall in the second period.
Skylar Ledbetter (112, 11-20) went 1-2 in the tournament as his only victory came in the consolation first round against Casey Belville of Independence.
Tyrell Burel (119, 10-19), Tyler Radford (189, 13-13), Corbin Hester (215, 5-23), and Josh Kelly (285, 12-20) were eliminated on the first day of action with 0-2 records.