Wrestlers win league tournament title

The Havelock wrestling team continues to distance itself from the rest of the Coastal 3A Conference.

The Rams dominated the conference tournament Saturday, finishing with 226.5 points to win the title. South Central was the next closest competitor with 157 points, followed by West Carteret (139.50), Jacksonville (127) and West Craven (101.5).

Havelock crowned seven wrestlers conference champs and advanced eight to the finals.

“Overall, we wrestled pretty well,” said Cruz, who was named Coastal Conference Coach of the Year. “We thought we’d have between eight and 10 in the finals. We lost a couple close matches in the semifinals. Any time you can put more than half your team into the conference finals, it’s a pretty good deal.”

Among the individual champs for the Rams, junior Zack Jaramillo (130 pounds) and senior Terrence Zaleski (152) pinned their opponents. Matt Bogard (112) defeated West Carteret’s Max Parsons 9-1, and Christian Holleman (119) escaped with a 3-2 victory over West Craven’s Chance Credeur.

“Chance has gotten better. He is really strong and his defense has improved quite a bit,” Cruz said. “Christian is so technical. He was able to fight through it.”

It took four overtimes for Havelock’s Jake Sanborn (125) to defeat West Carteret’s Chris Halstead, 3-2. Ray Davis (145) and Thurman Green (215) also earned conference titles.

Mike Newby (135) suffered a 15-6 loss to Jacksonville’s Clayton Davenport in the finals. Jake Smith (103) and Kevin Sherry (140) won their third-place matches.

Havelock next wrestles in the state dual-team playoffs Tuesday. The first- and second-round matchups have yet to be set.