The Starr's

Mill and McIntosh high school wrestling teams each

competed in one final meet before the end of the 20th

century.

Starr's

Mill participated in the St. Pius Duals, while McIntosh

wrestled in the Fitzgerald Invitational. Both coaches are

encouraged by their teams' performance and look forward

to the rest of the season.

Starr's

Mill wrestled against five high schools at St. Pius and

out-scored their opponents 334-27. The Panthers beat

Redan High School 72-0 and North Springs 60-7, walked

over East Side 71-0, and won over St. Pius 59-8 before

beating Woodstock in the finals 62-12. The Panthers have

been performing at this level all season long.

Three

Panther wrestlers are still undefeated on the season;

Gary James (103) is 19-0, Christopher Coleman (145) is

19-0, and Drew Cofty (152) is 15-0. The great records

don't stop there, though. Jason Kiefer (130) is 19-1,

Ariston Bowers (140) is 17-1, Tony Tofanelli (215) is

13-3, Matt Fuhrman (160) is 12-3, Rusty Lyle (171) is

14-4 and Danny Davidson (135) is 14-5.

Starr's

Mill also has received another boost with the return of

Clint Barbour from an injury. He has already started

competing with the team and will wrestle at Henry County

Wednesday and at the Hoover Invitational Saturday.

Starr's Mill will wrestle against Henry County and

Columbia Wednesday, both of which are top 10 teams in the

state.

The Hoover

Invitational is in Birmingham, Ala. and will feature some

top wrestling programs from Louisiana, Kentucky and

Tennessee.

McIntosh

wrestlers are feeling good about their final meet of 1999

and their prospects for 2000. They competed in the

Fitzgerald Invitational last week and placed second

overall. Lowndes High School won the meet and Cook

County, ranked second in AA, placed third. The Chiefs had

three first place finishers: Ricky Smith (112), Eddie

Smith (130) and Carlos Dinkins (119). Jerry Fochtmann

placed second overall at 125, Michael Lee took third

place at 160, and Brad Luce finished in fourth place at

140.

Coach Marty

Hutsell was pleased with his team's performance and is

happy that the holiday grind is over. "We grind them

until December," Coach Hutsell said. "They face

a lot of tough competition and they wrestle a lot. It

gives them good mental toughness and really prepares

them."

The biggest

problem facing both teams is the added weight that some

of the wrestlers gained over the holidays. Both teams

have done a lot of running recently to make sure that

they will make weight for their upcoming meets.

McIntosh

will wrestle next at the War Eagle Invitational at

Woodward Academy Friday and Saturday.