Veterans (GA)

Head Coach: Garrett Martin (entering 6th season)

Staff: Sean McSweeney, Austin Harrell

The Lady Warhawks will be a force to be reckoned with in 21-22. They finished 4th a year ago and return each of their point-getters from last year. Samantha Godfrey finished 3rd a year ago, but more importantly is that the Lady Warhawks had 9 qualifiers in total and more than half of them won multiple matches in Macon. If they can put Rachel Whetstone, Evelyn Kissell, and Alexis Andrade on the podium with Godfrey they will be tough to beat. Clara Maddox, Lexi Wilt, and Lillian Clark all return after competing in Macon and getting points from them could be huge in the team race. Keep an eye on Avrelia Shanahan - she will look to make some noise as well.

“Veterans Girls squad is continuing to grow and I’m projecting a strong showing this year. We graduated only one girl (nonstarter), so the same group of girls plus our new additions will complete our line up. Last years state placer (Godfrey) and our other three that got knocked out after going deep in the girls state brackets will all return to the mat this year. I’m excited about this special group and the momentum of girls wrestling as a whole. ”

— Coach Martin

Veterans (GA)

Head Coach: Garrett Martin (entering 6th season)

Staff: Sean McSweeney, Austin Harrell

The Warhawks enter the 2021-22 season as one of the more dangerous teams in 5A. 5A is headlined by Woodland, Cass, Woodward Academy, Harris County, and others, but Veterans is a program that returns all of their State Placers and State Qualifiers from a 2021 team that finished in the top 20. This team will make a run for a top 10 finish in 2022 - and if they can add fuel to the fire they may make a run at an even higher place in Macon.

Latrell Schafer and Tanner Vorse both return after taking 3rd a year ago and both should be in the hunt for the top step on the podium. Veterans also return Zachary Coumbs, Dylan Fitzwater, Damien Johnson, and Logan Sherwood - each won matches in Macon and will look to take that next step onto the podium in 2022. One of the biggest returns for Veterans is Tyler Barb who will be back in time to make a run at the podium after the winter break. Keep an eye on Ovani Navedo - also a 2021 State Qualifier as well as Gabe Gibbs, Gabe Kloberdanz, and Bradley Wilson.

“Veterans looks to come in this season strong, we have a lot of depth in our 5 returning Seniors and return all of last years state qualifiers and placers in the line up. In addition, the new blood that has joined the team will make us very competitive in both duals and traditional, filling in gaps and giving us options at others. Goals are set, we just need to execute. ”

— Coach Martin

Georgia Crowns 5; Florida 3 and South Carolina their first – GFC Elite

The Woodward Academy crew had quite a weekend as their three hammers – Kilic, Filipowicz, and Singleton – each claimed a GFC Elite title.  Georgia also had two champs from Roundtree with Antonio Mills taking the title at 98 and Jake Crapps at 119.  Mills started the ball rolling for Georgia as he took out the #2 seed Colyn Limbert of Ohio in a tight one at 98.  Jake Crapps won outstanding wrestler with an absolutely outstanding weekend – downing nationally-ranked Kyle Montaperto of North Carolina in the semis and the nationally-ranked Evan Tallmadge of New Jersey in a crazy finish in the finals.

Florida crowned 3 champs but could have had at least two more if they hadn’t drawn Kilic and Filipowicz in the finals.   Kilic downed Joe Gonzalez 4-2 in SV1 to claim the 145 lb. title and Filipowicz won a wild (and controversial) one over Jonathan Ley in the 160 lb. final.  There were also two all-Florida matchups in the finals with Tom Crook downing Ethan Mojena at 140 lbs. and Andrew Austin taking out Cooper Haase in a wild one at 125.

South Carolina put two in the finals – Dylan Layton and Yannis Charles.  Layton lost to nationally-ranked Nasir Bailey of Illinois at 135 and it looked like South Carolina would finish without a champ until Yannis Charles turned it on in the 3rd period.  Charles looked challenged heading into the 3rd period … trailing Virginia’s Patrick Jordon 6-1.  An escape by Charles in the 3rd made it 6-2 with about a minute remaining and then lightning struck.  Charles had 3 takedowns in a row plus two point nearfall to tie it 9-9 with about 15 seconds remaining.  Charles then let Jordon up and got the final takedown to win it with just seconds remaining.

The Southeast had one other champ – Gunnar Garriques … but he was listed as Illinois in the bracket.  The reason … Gunnar goes to Baylor and as a result we claim him, but his family lives in Illinois (which what was listed).  Garriques, the #2 seed, downed top seed Caden Ferris of Michigan 3-0 to claim the 215 lb. title.  Overall it was a good weekend for the SE. 

Close but not quite

Eight SE wrestlers made the finals, but came up just a bit short.  Mojena, Ley, Haase and Gonzalez weren’t the only Floridians to drop their finals match.  Braden Basile lost a 5-4 match to nationally-ranked Vincent Robinson of Illinois at 130.  Tennessee’s Justin Bradford looked to have the 113 lb. title take care of and then lost a close one in overtime to Michigan’s Jackson Blum.  Bradford gave up a penalty point (finger pull) late in the 3rd which had an impact on the match and pushing it to overtime.  Dylan Galloway dropped a close 285 lb. final to Jimenez – 2-1.

More Info

I’m working on a more detailed breakdown of what I saw - who stood out, best matches, and so on for the SEWrestle+ part of the website. That will be posted soon (probably tomorrow).

41 other SE hammers made the podium (top 8)

High School Elite - 98

• 3rd Place - Liam Davis of Florida

• 6th Place - Cooper Foster of North Carolina

• 8th Place - Adaias Ortiz of Florida

High School Elite - 105

• 4th Place - Roman Lermer of Florida

• 7th Place - Gabriel Tellez of Florida

• 8th Place - Allen Calderon of Georgia

High School Elite - 112

• 3rd Place - Zeno Moore of Florida

• 4th Place - Christian Guzman of Florida

• 5th Place - Cameron Stinson of North Carolina

• 8th Place - Tyler Washburn of Florida

High School Elite - 119

• 4th Place - Kyle Montaperto of North Carolina

• 5th Place - Matthew Rowland of North Carolina

• 7th Place - Colin Kacena of Florida

• 8th Place - Colton Bishop of Georgia

High School Elite - 125

• 4th Place - Danny Martinez of Florida

• 6th Place - Mark Samuel of North Carolina

• 7th Place - Jacob Silka of Georgia

High School Elite - 130

• 3rd Place - Keyveon Roller of Tennessee

• 5th Place - Marcus Jackson of North Carolina

• 8th Place - Brandt Fajerman of North Carolina

High School Elite - 140

• 3rd Place - Emil Necula of Georgia

High School Elite - 145

• 3rd Place - Jeremiah Price of North Carolina

• 8th Place - Rafael Diniz of Florida

High School Elite - 152

• 4th Place - Dominic Bambinelli of Georgia

• 5th Place - Brendon Abdon of Florida

• 7th Place - Alexander Couto of Florida

• 8th Place - Creed Thomas of Georgia

High School Elite - 160

• 5th Place - Cole Cochran of Georgia

• 7th Place - Mason Alley of Tennessee

• 8th Place - Tyler Secoy of Georgia

High School Elite - 171

• 4th Place - Kodiak Cannedy of Tennessee

• 6th Place - Riley Orr of Florida

• 7th Place - Aiden McCafferty of North Carolina

High School Elite - 189

• 3rd Place - Brian Burburija of Florida

• 4th Place - Devon Bell of North Carolina

• 6th Place - Nolan Pozzobon of Georgia

• 7th Place - Dominic Joyce of Florida

• 8th Place - Dylan Deal of Florida

High School Elite - 215

• 4th Place - Ralph Sanchez of Florida

• 5th Place - Nelson Toro of Florida

• 6th Place - Carson Floyd of North Carolina

• 7th Place - Logan Webster of Georgia

• 8th Place - Deonte Dozier of Georgia

High School Elite - 285

• 3rd Place - Anthony Yancey of Georgia