The next step towards a state title is set for Saturday as 108 DeKalb County wrestlers head to various GHSA State Sectional sites with goals set to reach the GHSA Traditional State Wrestling Championships on February 8-10 at the Macon Centreplex.

McNair (Area 2-3A) and Southwest DeKalb (5-5A) captured their Area titles last weekend to lead the way for the DCSD contingent.

McNair picked up six gold medals on the way to a 206-183.5 win over Pike County with DeKalb entries Towers (93, 4th), Stone Mountain (64, 8th), Redan (32, 10th) and Cedar Grove (14, 11th) all scoring in the tournament.

Sidarius Johnson (106), DeeJay McNeal (113), Masud As-Siddiq (120), Markell Sutton (126), Antonio Mills (132) and Terrance Randle (182) wrestled their way to the top of the podium to collect gold for the Mustangs. Eleven total Mustangs qualified for the State Sectionals by finishing fourth or better in the Area meet.

DeKalb advanced 22 wrestlers to the Class 3A Sectional in Bremen on Saturday.

Southwest DeKalb matched McNair’s six gold medals with its 248-145 win over second place Arabia Mountain. Miller Grove (133.5), Lithonia (109.5), Chamblee (101), Clarkston (76.5), Cross Keys (71) and Columbia (40) finished third through eighth in the All-DeKalb Area Tournament.

The Panthers pushed 13 wrestlers through to the sectionals with Christian Harvey (106), Coby Ficklin (120), Rodre Fears (126), Alfonzo Farley (132), Xavier McKinney (152) and Eris Walker (220) picked up gold medals at the end of the day.

Arabia Mountain captured a pair of first place finishes at the Area meet in Christian Phillips (170) and Caleb Cummings (195). Chamblee and Lithonia each placed a pair of wrestlers on the top step of the podium. Chamblee’s Bart Turney (138) and Cameron Vandewiele (145) joined Lithonia’s Chris Glover (160) and Nazir Gates (285) collecting gold medals.

Avery Towns gave third place Miller Grove its only gold medal by taking the 182 weight class title.

Cross Keys which restarted its wrestling program a year ago after several years of not competing had a repeat winner at the Area 5-5A meet in Cleyber Ventura who won back-to-back gold medals with a win at 113.

Fifty-two DeKalb County wrestlers advanced to the Class 5A Sectional at Buford this Saturday.

The Class 6A State Sectionals at Lanier and Alexander has 23 DeKalb wrestlers vying to qualify for state. Dunwoody advanced six to the sectional at Lanier led by Jacob Starks who won the 120 weight class.

Stephenson leads the 6A contingent from DeKalb heading to Alexander on Saturday with nine wrestlers advancing. The Jaguars picked up gold medal wins by Taquel Young (145) and Jamal McDonald (285) to finish third overall in the team standings in Area 4-6A.

Tucker was fifth in the Area 4-6A with 91 points led by Jimmy Carter (160) who wrestled to the top for a gold medal. Five other Tigers qualified for the Alexander Sectional. Martin Luther King qualified a pair of wrestlers for state led by Keion Cush who took bronze at 285.

The Lakeside Vikings wrestled to a fourth place finish (120) in Area 7-7A and qualified eight wrestlers for the sectional Lowndes County on Saturday. Cody Domingue led the way for the Vikings by taking the gold in the 160 weight class.

Druid Hills finished fifth in the Area 4-4A meet and qualified three wrestlers for the sectional to be held at Woodward Academy. Artavis Brown was the top performer for the Red Devils with his silver medal at 120.

2018 DCSD AREA WRESTLING RESULTS

2018 DCSD WRESTLING STATE SECTIONAL QUALIFIERS

2018 GHSA STATE SECTIONAL SITES
AAAAAAA: Lowndes County (Lakeside)
7-AAAAAA: Lanier (Dunwoody)
4-AAAAAA: Alexander (Martin Luther King Jr.; Stephenson; Tucker)
AAAAA: Buford (Arabia Mountain; Chamblee; Clarkston; Columbia; Cross Keys; Lithonia; Miller Grove; Southwest DeKalb)
AAAA: Woodward Academy (Druid Hills)
AAA: Bremen (McNair; Redan; Stone Mountain; Towers)