By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Elijah Watson of Eastern Alamance was dominant in four matches to capture the 120-pound championship in the Eagle Invitational, a two-day competition wrapping up Saturday afternoon at the Mebane Arts & Community Center.
Watson, who was the only finalist from an Alamance County school in any of the boys’ brackets, defeated Carson Ambell of Overhills by 14-6 in the title bout. Earlier, he won 8-1 against Northwest Guilford’s Blake Abbott, pinned Randleman’s Jaxton Strickland in 1:42, and needed 3:32 for a technical fall against Orange’s Lucas Carrasco.
“I’ve been moving forward, trying to push the pace,” said Watson, a junior whose season record improved to 21-3. He was a runner-up in the tournament last year.
Cedar Ridge was the team champion in the tournament’s 35th edition. Eastern Alamance is the tournament host.
On the girls’ side with limited participants, in-county champions were Cummings’ Laniya Johnson (132 pounds) and Kamiya Johnson (235) and Southeast Ala-mance’s Katie Lloyd (145), Samari Acevedo (152), and Janiyah Quidachay (165, only entrant). Laniya Johnson defeated Graham’s Lily Acosta in the final.
Southern Alamance wasn’t a participant in the tournament despite being listed among the expected competing teams. The Patriots have undergone a coaching change this month with Jim Giannotti stepping down. Tournament organizers extended an entry deadline prior to completing weight-class brackets, but Southern didn’t have wrestlers in the entry system.
Last year, Southern had three individual champions (all underclassmen) in the tournament, finishing as runner-up in the team standings.
