Jackets Wrestlers finished 11th in the Regional Tournament

Tim Shaffer at Regionals

In Hayesville wrestling is coming of age. The Hayesville Wrestling Team is coming off a fine showing with an 11th place finish in the West 1A/2A Regional Wrestling Tournament this past weekend at North Henderson High School. The West Regional is the State 1A/2A qualifying tournament for thirty 1A and 2A high schools from the Smoky Mountain 1A Conference, the Northwest 1A Conference, the Western Highlands 2A Conference and the Western Athletic 2A Conference. Winning the regional tournament was Alleghany High School; Alleghany also won the state dual team tournament for 1A. Taking second place was Smoky Mountain Conference power Robbinsville.

Hayesville, which held sixth place after Friday night's competition, slid to eleventh place on Saturday, but this was the best finish ever for the Yellow Jackets since starting a wrestling team in 2000. " This is a big accomplishment for our school to finish in the top of a region that is known for strong wrestling. We are beginning to be competitive with some of the top wrestling programs in the area." 'When we started our team we struggled to win a match at the regional tournament. Now we have three state qualifiers from Hayesville High School this year, and every wrestler we took to the regional scored points for our team by winning at least two individual matches."

Tim Shaffer at Regionals

The three wrestlers that qualify for this years NCHSAA 1A/2A State Wrestling Tournament this weekend in Winston-Salem are Justin Guffey, Tyler Marcoux, and Jeffery Updike. This triples the qualifying wrestlers from past seasons. In 2004 Tyler Ledford was the first Hayesville wrestler to qualify for the state tournament in the 275-pound weight class. A year later Aaron Hawkins qualified also at 275 pounds. Last season as a freshman Tyler Marcoux qualified for the state tournament at 112 pounds. "This season I think we are ready to make some noise in Winston-Salem and put Hayesville on the map when it comes to wrestling."

119 lbs Justin Guffey (SR) Justin entered the regional seeded 7th in his weight class. He placed third in the 119-pound weight class by posting upsets over Timmy Sullins of Mitchell High School in the Quarterfinals and Brad Caldwell of Robbinsville in the consolation finals.

125 lbs Tyler Marcoux (SO) Tyler wrestled to a third place finish in the 125-pound weight class. Tyler was coming off and injury and had wrestled only one match since January 17. He wrestled well and recorded three pins and a decision in route to earning a second trip to the state tournament. His only loss came to regional champion Enrique Vera of North Henderson High School.

135 lbs Jeff Updike (JR) placed fourth in the 135-pound weight class. Jeff recorded wins over Asaiah Rahmani of Elkin, Ethan Peterson of Mitchell and Jordan Lawrence of Pisgah to qualify for a trip to the state tournament. He lost to Matthew Combs of Alleghany in the consolation finals.

Other HHS wrestlers that competed in the 1A/2A West Regional were Tim Shaffer (JR) at 140 pounds, Donovan Byers (JR) at 285 pounds, BJ Strechko (SR) at 160 pounds, and Kevin McCreary (SR) at 152 pounds.

All of the Hayesville wrestlers won at least two matches and Shaffer, Byers, and Strechko were among the top six wrestlers in the regional in their weight class.

Team Scores:

1 Alleghany	144.5
2 Robbinsville	99.5
3 Brevard	99
4 Madison	96
5 North Henderson	86
6 Bishop McGuinness	79
7 West Wilkes	78
8 West Henderson	74.5
9 Mitchell County	73
10 South Stokes	70
11 Hayesville	66.5
12 East Surry	64
13 Avery County	60.5
14 Rosman	60
15 Polk County	56
16 Pisgah	47
17 East Henderson	45
18 Owen	30
19 East Wilkes	27.5
20 North Stokes	25
21 Cherokee	16
22 Smoky Mountain	13
23 Swain	6

24 Elkin	3
25 Hiwassee Dam	3
26 Mountain Heritage	3
27 Andrews	2
28 Hendersonville	1
29 Mount Airy	0

Hayesville Wrestler's results by rounds:

Championship First round

119 Justin Guffey major decision Steven Sorrells, Pisgah 19-6

125 Tyler Marcoux pinned Caleb Russell, Polk Co. 1:33

135 Jeff Updike tech fall Asaiah Rahmani, Elkin 16-1

140 Tim Shaffer dec Andrew Campbell, North Hend. 8-6OT

152 Kevin McCreary dec Dustin Debord, Alleghany 11-5

160 Benjie Calloway, Robbinsville dec BJ Strechko 11-5

285 Donovan Byers pin Travis Myers, Elkin 3:00

Championship Quarter- Finals

119 Justin Guffey dec Timmy Sullins, Mitchell 3-1

125 Tyler Marcoux pin Scott Pena, West Wilkes 5:00

135 Jeff Updike dec Ethen Peterson, Mitchell 10-5

140 Tim Shaffer Maj dec Josh Norman, East Surry 14-6

152 Joseph Orieto, North Stokes pin Kevin McCreary 2:40

285 Ryan Stiles, Murphy pin Donovan Byers 1:18

Championship Semi-Finals

119 Heath Edwards, Alleghany dec Justin Guffey 6-4

125 Enrique Vera, North Hend. Pin Tyler Marcoux 3:57

135 Sterling Ducker, North Hend. Pin Jeff Updike 3:53

140 Nathan Walsh, west Wilkes pin Tim Shaffer 5:35

Consolations 1st round

160 BJ Strechko pin Tyler Hetherington, Mtn Heritage 4:15

Consolations 2nd round

152 Kevin McCreary maj dec Colton Worley, East Henderson 12-1

160 BJ Strechko maj. Dec Austin Myers, Owen 13-1

285 Donovan Byers pin Matthew McCall, Rosman 2:21

Consolation Quarter-Finals

152 John Valitutto, Biship McGuenness dec Kevin McCreary 11-3

160 BJ Struchko dec David Holden, Rosman 8-4

285 Donovan Byers pin Bo Henson, Pisgah 1:54

Consolation Semi-Finals

119 Justin Guffey dec Sylvester Ramirez, Polk Co. 7-2

125 Tyler Marcoux pin Lucas Carver, Avery Co. 2:04

135 Jeff Updike dec Josh Lawerence, Madison Co. 5-3

140 Caleb Cagle, Brevard dec Tim Shaffer 8-0

160 Jeremy Perdue, East Surry pin BJ Strechko 0:54

285 Bryant Lewellyn, North Stokes pin Donovan Byers 0:53

Consolation Finals

119 Justin Guffey dec Brad Caldwell, Robbinsville 5-4OT

125 Tyler Marcoux dec Justin Wooten, Alleghany 10-3

135 Matthew Combs, Alleghany pin Jeff Updike 2:38

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