LEABANON, Tenn. – Adrian Ayala and
Cory Cannan each finished first for the Lindsey Wilson men's wrestling team at the Cumberland Open Saturday while three other Blue Raiders finished in the top five.
Ayala (No. 14 at 149 pounds) finished first in the 141-pound bracket while Cannan – who was wrestling unattached – took home the title at 197 pounds.
Arlo Laxton finished third in the 133-pound bracket while
Zackery Chatman and
Jaylin Bien-Aime finished third and fourth at 285 pounds.
Ayala was dominant on the day recording three pins and one tech fall. He started his tournament with a first-period pin of Marcus Bluesteen. Ayala pinned Corbyn Cunningham from West Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals in 3:22. He punched his ticket to the finals with a third-period pin of King's Nico Crosnoe. Ayala captured the title with a 21-5 tech fall over Cumberland' Hunter Kegley.
Cannan began his tournament with a 13-1 major decision over King's Nathan Coley. In the quarterfinals, he earned a 17-2 tech fall over Lyon's Eli Lupton. Cannan then recorded an 18-2 tech fall in the semifinals over Jackson Evans from West Virginia Tech. He captured the title with a 5-4 decision over Cumberlands' Greyson Stevens.
Laxton started his tournament with an 8-2 decision over Aslan Nadeau of Cumberland and earned a 12-2 major decision against Lyon's Sam Tabak in the quarterfinals. He suffered a 4-1 setback in the semifinals to Thomas More's Breyden Whorton. Laxton earned a 5-1 decision against Cumberland's Bobby Estrada in the consolation semifinals. In the third-place match, Laxton pinned Benjamin Levy in the first period.
Chatman pinned Midway's Oscar Adams in the first period in his first match. He then recorded a first-period pin in the quarterfinals over Huntingdon's Tristan Williams. Chatman dropped an 8-3 decision in the semifinals to Ralph Riche from St. Thomas. In the consolation semifinals, he pinned Midway's Oscar Adams. Chatman earned an 11-7 decision over Bien-Aime to finish third.
Bien-Aime dropped his first match in tiebreaker-1 to King's Mateo Armendariz before rattling off three-straight wins in the consolation rounds. He earned an SV-1 8-7 win over West Virginia Tech's Max Underwood and picked up a 17-1 tech fall over Williams. Bien-Aime advanced to the consolation semifinals with a first-period pin of Tommy Hires from Huntingdon. He then pinned Blake Palmer from Huntingdon in the first period of the consolation semifinals to advance to the third-place match.
Baylor Brooker earned a pair of wins at 165 pounds while
Cale Johnson had two victories at 184 pounds.
The Blue Raiders wrap up their regular season on Monday at 7 p.m. CT at Biggers Sports Center against No. 3 Cumberlands.
