McNair’s Jamaal Deng (center) stands atop the medal stand after winning his state title. (Courtesy photo)
Going into last weekend’s Class AAA State Wrestling Tournament Jamaal Deng entered as a two seed out of the West Sectional after falling the sectional championship match.
That West Sectional title match loss was the first of the season for Deng and the 152 Weight Class wrestler used it as motivation as the state tournament got underway.
Deng (41-1) opened the tournament with a convincing technical fall win of 20-5 at the 5:51 mark of the match against Toombs County’s Chase Corbin (42-17). He followed that win up with a pin fall of Antonio Robinson (30-20) of Morgan County at the 5:57 mark of the quarterfinal match.
Jefferson’s Will Ballard (43-6) was Deng’s opponent in the semifinals and did not last long as Deng picked up a pin fall in just 2:32 of the match to reach the finals.
The finals match was an epic battle against Elbert County’s Kevin Almond (45-11). The two battled to a 6-5 decision with Deng getting the nod for the gold medal.
The McNair Mustangs produced a state champion on the way to a Top 10 finish at the Class 3A State Wrestling Tournament.
Deng became just the second McNair Mustang state wrestling champion joining Khalil Williams who captured the 120 Division in 2013. He also became the 323rd DeKalb County wrestler to claim a gold medal in state competition.
The gold medal winning performance by Deng coupled with a silver medal by Derek Clayton (220) and a sixth place finish by Justin Corley (182) gave the Mustangs a team total of 57.5 points good for 10th overall in Class 3A.
Clayton (36-6) won three close decisions on the way to the championship match of the 220 Division before falling in the final match to undefeated Jamir Smith (47-0) of Toombs County.
Towers finished 29th overall in the team standings with 11 points led by Stevenson Derival’s sixth place finish in the 170 Division.
Class 6A
Lakeside finished in the Top 25 in the team standings of the Class 6A State Wrestling Tournament at 21 with 29 points.
Imani Heslop (50-5) won a bronze medal in the 220 Division to lead the way for the Vikings as he defeated Ryan Willis (39-12) of Roswell 9-7 in the bronze medal match. Heslop had reached the state semifinals with wins of 14-7 and 9-8 before falling to eventual state champion Quinn Miller (28-1) of Archer. A 4-1 victory over Aaron Johnson of Kennesaw Mountain propelled him in the bronze medal match.
Spencer Wilson (54-9) picked up a fourth place finish in the 126 Division with a strong run into the bronze medal match. Wilson won his opening match, but fell in the quarterfinals. Dropping into the wrestle backs he won three in a row to reach the bronze medal round before losing a tough 3-0 decision to Mountain View’s Justin George (50-5).
Class 5A
Southwest DeKalb was the highest finisher from DeKalb in the Class 5A team standings at 17th with 33 points.
The Panthers picked up a silver medal from two-time state champion Abdur Rahman-Yasin (160 Division) and a fifth place finish by Treylyn Meadors (170).
Yasin ran his match win streak to 101 by winning his first three matches to reach the Class 5A state finals at 160. He won his first two matches by pin fall in less than two minutes and took a 16-2 major decision in the semifinal win over Hardaway’s Emilio Evan-Pagon to reach his third consecutive state finals match.
His win streak dating back to 2013 came to end 5:14 into the gold medal match as Cambridge’s Devin Kane (62-1) completed his run to the title by winning all four state matches by pin fall. Yasin finishes his career with back-to-back state titles in 2013-14 and a 118-2 record in three seasons.
Meadors (34-8) finished the state tournament with a 4-2 record after taking fourth place with a 9-6 decision over Kell’s Sam Ashway (49-14).
Coach Patrick Ryan (second from right) finished up his final year with three state placers for Lithonia in (l-r) Shamel Findley, Kirkglen Hudson, Ryan and Chris Morgan. (Courtesy Photo)
Class 4A
Lithonia had three Bulldog wrestlers place in the Class 4A State Tournament on the way to an 11th place finish in the team standings with 48.5 points.
Kirkglen Hudson (35-2) battled back from a semifinal loss in the 120 Division to capture the bronze medal over Woodland’s Grady Pastor (60-10) via pin fall at the 3:00 minute mark of the match. Hudson had started off with a technical fall (16-1) in his opening match and took just 37 seconds in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals.
A loss in the semifinals sent him into the wrestle back semifinal round where he pinned Dylan Oliver of Lafayette in just 1:39 to advance to the bronze medal match. He then got his third pin fall of the tournament against Pastor.
Shamel Findley (35-14) battled into the bronze medal match in the 126 Division, but came up short to finish fourth in the class. Chris Morgan (40-6) earned a sixth place finish at 132.