The Avery wrestling team sent a total of four wrestlers to Alleghany High School last weekend to take part in the 1A Western Regional Tournament. Each of the grapplers fought hard for two days of action. By event’s end, Brock Yackey captured a regional championship at 119 pounds, CJ Vance qualified for the state tournament with a fourth place finish at 160 pounds, Nick Malgadey won a pair of matches in the 125 pound weight class, and Lucas Lecka came up one win short of qualifying for state with a strong effort at 215 pounds.Each of Avery’s grapplers had a solid start to the regional with opening round victories.
Yackey, a #6 seed, won by second period pinfall over 11th seeded Billy Brady from Cherokee. Malgadey was a winner in his opening match, as the #7 seed was victorious by pin over #10 seed Zack Caldwell from Thomas Jefferson Academy. CJ Vance started strong as a #7 seed, winning by a 14-2 major decision over #10 seed Cody Bennett from North Wilkes. Lucas Lecka made it a clean sweep of opening round wins for the Big Red, as the #8 seed defeated #9 seed Cody Lefler from West Wilkes by first period pin.
For its strong first round performances, the second round was not as kind to Avery, as three of the four Viking wrestlers were defeated to drop into the consolation bracket. Malgadey fell 21-4 to #2 seeded Cody Smith from Alleghany, while Vance fell 7-2 to second-seeded Aaron Rabin from Elkin and Lecka was defeated via pinfall by Alleghany’s Daniel Aldaco.
Yackey advanced in the winner’s bracket as he dispatched Bishop McGuinnes’s Kevin Graban by a 19-8 major decision.
In his first consolation match, Malgadey upended Bradley Greene, the #9 seed from Swain High School, by an 11-9 match total before being eliminated in a 6-2 match score by third-seeded Robert Lynch of Mount Airy.
Vance reeled off a pair of wins after dropping into the consolation bracket. He defeated #6 seed Joe Anderson from West Wilkes by a 4-3 decision, and followed up that win with another one, defeating Mitchell’s Nate Brooks 7-2 in a rematch of conference rivals. Vance lost to Brooks in the recent conference tournament, but Vance got the upper hand in this meeting with a berth in the state tournament on the line.“It means a lot to me to get to state. The competition doesn’t get any better,” Vance said after qualifying. “I’ve worked hard this year and have struggled at times, but to get there is a great feeling.”
Vance lost his final match in the consolation semifinals against Luke Hampton, the #3 seed, by a 15-9 decision.
Lucas Lecka regrouped from his loss to Aldaco to win a pair of matches. Lecka defeated #10 Sean Reems of Elkin by first period pinfall, and upended #5 Justice Littlejohn from Cherokee with a second period pin. With a state playoff trip on the line, Lecka’s dream came to an end when he lost by a 4-1 score to Colby White.
Brock Yackey with his two wins advanced in the championship bracket. Yackey defeated Chad Billings of North Wilkes, the #2 seed, by an 8-2 decision, then was able to defeat JJ LaPlante, the top seed from West Wilkes, 7-5 on a last second reversal.
“It means everything to me to get to go back to states.
I’m excited about going back and I hope I can bring a medal back for Avery County,” Yackey said after winning the tournament.Qualifying two participants out of four at the regional tournament is a great accomplishment for the Avery wrestling program, and the coaches are proud of the efforts of the team through the season.
“I think we overall had a pretty good week. Nick and Lucas didn’t quite make the states but were close in the consolations. They fought hard and did all you could ask of them,” Avery head coach Stacey Clark said after the tournament. “CJ really was kind of a surprise. We knew coming in that he had a long shot at getting to the state tournament, and he has worked his tail off in practice and it showed today. We expected Brock to be in the finals with JJ LaPlante, and with him taking home first place we got a little of a bonus. Seeing the grin on that kid’s face makes what we do worthwhile. I’m so thankful to Coach Harkey coming out and helping us this season. His working with Brock has made a big difference by having a coach at his weight to work with him and teach him intricacies of the sport.”
Avery took four wrestlers to the regional tournament, but Coach Clark hopes to see greater interest and participation in the program next season.
“It has been disappointing seeing the number of wrestlers we lost through this season. If we are able to have kids dedicated to working hard like the ones we had who made it to this weekend, I think we can do some great things.”
