The Starr's Mill wrestling team hosted the Starr's Mill

Invitational last Friday and Saturday. Five other wresting programs were

represented but Starr's Mill took home the gold, finishing with

210 points overall. Sprayberry finished in second place with 182

points, while Alexander finished in third place with 147 points.

Central Carrollton, South Cobb and Douglas County round out the top

six with scores of 118,82, and 76 points respectively.

The teams competed in dual events on Friday, as each

team wrestled against two other squads. Starr's Mill face

Central Carrollton and South Cobb. The Panthers defeated

Central Carrollton by a score of 54-12 and then beat South Cobb by a

score of 62-18. Brian Kiser, Drew Cofty, Ariston Bowers, Akhil

Chhabra and Clint Barbour all recorded pins in their victories over

the Carrollton wrestlers. Jason Kiefer won both of his matches on

Friday by technical fall. Gary James won in the 103 pound weight

division by a score of 19-4 against Carrollton and then pinned

his South Cobb opponent in the second match. Chris Coleman,

Tony Tofanelli and Matt Fuhrmann each recorded a pin against South Cobb.

On Saturday, the tournament began and 13 of the 14

Panther starters finished in the top three of their weight division. Brian

Kiser was champion of the 130 pound division while Clint Barbour

was champion of the 215 pound weight division. Tony Tofanelli,

Akhil Chhabra, Matt Fuhrmann, Chris Coleman, Ariston Bowers,

Jason Kiefer and Matt Thurber each finished second in their

respective weight divisions. Gary James, Evan Beckett and Rusty Lyle

finished in third place in their respective weight divisions.

Stephen Behringer and Drew Cofty did not wrestle on Saturday due

to injuries. Both wrestlers should be fine when practice starts up

again after the holidays.

"I am very pleased with how the team wrestled and I'm

just glad that we have some time off for some of these guys to

heal," said Coach Mickey Statham. The Panthers will face St. Pius on Jan.2.

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