The Orr Invitational, formerly called the Far West Invitational, featured nine of the best high school wrestling teams in Western North Carolina. Overall, the Big Red earned 55 points as a team, good enough to finish seventh of the nine schools.
When the championship action wrapped up, Avery boasted three wrestlers who returned home with medals signifying a top-three finish.
Viking senior Brock Yackey was the lone AHS champion at the tournament, as he captured first at 135 pounds. Senior Lucas Lecka was a silver medalist, winning second at 215 pounds. Senior C.J. Vance came home with third place, medaling at 160 pounds.
Of the 11 AHS wrestlers competing in Robbinsville, seven came away from the tournament with at least one victory for their efforts. Wesley Hobbs earned a pinfall win in three matches in the 103-pound weight class, while Harley Rash won one match via pin in the 119-pound class. Luke Price was victorious by pinfall in his second and final match of the day at 152 pounds, with Brandon Huff winning the second of his two matches by first period pinfall in the heavyweight class.
Yackey’s road to victory went through three opponents. In his first match, he defeated Cody Newman of Hayesville by a 15-1 major decision. The semifinal match was a tough contest between Yackey and Swain County’s Tanner Beldon, which the AHS senior won by second-period pinfall.
In the championship match, Yackey met Tuscola’s Brannon Inman. It took over two periods, but at the 1:26 mark of the third period, Yackey pinned his opponent’s shoulders to the mat to win the gold medal.
Lecka’s second-place finish included a first-period victory by pin over Hayesville’s Taylor Woody. In the championship match, however, Lecka came up short against Alleghany wrestler Ryan Billings, who is coached by former Avery wrestling standout Derrick Calloway. The Viking alum’s club placed wrestlers in the finals in six different weight classes, with two champions and four second-place finishers, helping that team to finish third overall at the event.
Avery’s Vance fell by 16-6 majority decision in his first match against Robbinsville’s Ryan Ball, but bounced back to win his second match by a 7-4 decision over Tuscola’s Clay Wightman. In his final match of the tournament, Vance met Ball in a rematch, and this time got revenge with a hard-earned 7-3 decision victory to take third place.
