CFNN Reporter Favor Murtala

The Wrestling Tradition at Cape Fear is historic and strong; last Saturday at the Gavin Sharpe Invitational, it remained strong.

Wrestling For the Colts is no easy task. Practices are extremely enervating and take much physical and mental discipline, including cutting out your favorite foods, losing a lot of weight in a short amount of time, and waking up very early in the morning to make it to tournaments.

At 4:30 AM last Saturday, the Colt Wrestling team took a long 3-hour trip to Mooresville High School to compete in the NC Gavin Sharpe invitational. The early alarm didn’t phase the Colts, as they walked away with 4 first place finishers and a 3rd place winner. They ended the tournament 5th in overall team points.

Two of Saturday’s first place finishers, Mac and Tye Johnson, have been on a tear this season, placing first in multiple huge tournaments. Not only are Mac and Tye brothers, but they are also twins. The twins continued their winning ways Saturday, as both the freshman sensations placed first. Tye Came away with MOW (Most Outstanding Wrestler) for his great display of wrestling the whole tournament. Tye’s season record now sits at 27-2. Mac is undefeated at 22-0.

“It feels good winning MOW, knowing the amount of time and effort I put into my craft and technique,” said Tye. “Me and Mac work very hard every practice, so it feels good when I see him win all these matches the way he does.”

The other two first place finishers, senior “hammers” Landon Sargent and Samuel Aponte, kept their perfect records intact, winning all their matches in dominant fashion and placing first. Aponte won his first match by pin in 1:10. He won his last two matches by tech fall including the finals. Sargent pinned his way to the final, where he met the #1 ranked 215-pound wrestler in the state, and won by decision 6-2 in a great match.

Aponte and Sargent have won every tournament the team has attended this year, and both have state championship aspirations, as Sargent strives for his first, and Apontes seeks his 3rd consecutive title. Both are favored to win states for their weight classes and deservingly so.

“The past 2 years I’ve gone to the final and came up short, so I’ve been practicing harder than ever these past few months and not taking any of the chances I have this season for granted,” Sargent said. “Samuel is chasing his third ring and his work ethic shows that every day.”

Another senior, Robert Moore, has been improving every week, and it finally paid off as he placed 3rd in a very strong bracket at the 165lb weight class. Moore won his first match in 37 seconds by pin. He faced adversity in the quarter finals and lost in a hard-fought match. Moore then went on to pin his way to the 3rd place match, which he won on a beautiful hip toss.
“I felt incredible,” Moore said. “I finally accomplished that goal of placing, and it shows that all my hard work is paying off and I’m getting better every week.”

Moore also has aspirations to make states. His record currently sits at 14-12 in a tough weight class, but he has the skill to make a deep run at the state tournament next month.