By Alicia Couch Payne
While most students have spent the last two weeks enjoying downtime, the Buford High School Varsity Wrestling team has been to not just one but two tournaments. The Wolves were in Kansas City, Missouri to compete in the 40-team Kansas City Stampede tournament from December 20-23, 2018. The tournament had teams from all over the country including Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Alabama, and Georgia.
Buford only took nine of their team with them to Kansas City and walked away with the most champions of any team with three. Nick Stonecheck, Charlie Darracott, and Blaine Bergey each won their weight class while senior Logan Ashton finished 3rd in his class. With only nine out of their usual fourteen wrestlers, Buford finished strong at 7th place out of 40 teams.
The Wolves headed to their second tournament of the holiday break on December 27th. They competed December 28th & 29th in Baltimore, Maryland at the Mount Mat Madness. The tournament is another national tournament drawing top teams from across the nation to compete at Mount Saint Joseph High School.
Buford had a very strong finish at the Mount Mat Madness tournament finishing in 2nd place just behind Mount Saint Joseph, the reigning Maryland state champions. Logan Ashton, Nick Stonecheck, Blaine Bergey, and Evan Dimaggio each won their individual weight classes. Charlie Darracott and Nick Corday also had strong finishes coming in 2nd place in their classes. Finishing 8th was Talen Thompson and Todd Hill.
Head coach Tom Beuglas says that taking his top guys to tournaments of a higher caliber is necessary to challenge his wrestlers and to have them continue to grow. Having his top guys wrestle in tournaments like these two also brings a chance to put his team in front of college recruiters. “Darracott, Stonecheck, and Bergey are all getting recruited pretty heavily thanks to their success at national events,” explains Beuglas. “Logan Ashton has already signed with Stanford University. I just want to put these guys in the best position to be successful.”
Buford will compete again this coming weekend, January 4th & 5th at Mountain View High School in the Gwinnett County tournament.
