DeKalb Schools Wrestling: McNair Captures School's First County Wrestling Title

McNair captures its first ever DeKalb County Wrestling title McNair High School celebrated its 25th year of athletic participation by rallying in the championship round to defeat Marist 200.5-193 to capture the school's first ever DeKalb County Wrestling Championships title on Saturday at Miller Grove High School.

McNair which opened in 1987 had never finished in first or second at the county championships with only six individual gold medal winners in the previous 24 years. Marist, the Area 6-AAAA champion, was leading going into the championship, third place and fifth place match finals by a score of 182 to 175.5.

McNair, which had captured second in the Area 5-AAA Region Tournament, went on to place nine in the top four places of the 14 weight divisions. Khalil Williams ran his record to 33-1 on the season as he downed Marist's Patrick Lange 15-3 in the finals of the 120 weight division giving the Mustangs the first of two gold medals.

D.J. Jackson also improved to 33-1 on the season and was leading Miller Grove's Jacob Mitchell (35-6) 4-0 in the second period of their match in the 220 weight division when he got the pin for McNair's second gold of the tournament.

McNair's Kevin Barner (42-3) reached the finals in the 285 weight division and settled for the silver after battling undefeated Gabe Echols of Southwest DeKalb (29-0) into the third period before Echols kept his unblemished mark intact with a pin with just seconds remaining in the match.

Other top four finishers for McNair included Darius Harris (106, 4th), Deniko West (126, 3rd), Zeontaye McCoy (138, 4th), Michael Corley (160, 3rd) and Dontavious Smith (182, 3rd). McNair's Isiah Walker placed fifth in the 171 class to round out the top finishers for the Mustangs.

Marist's effort was led by Kenneth Brinson's gold medal performance in the 195 weight division and three silver medal finishes by Patrick Lange (120), Matt Andres (138) and Ian Kirchner (145).

Southwest DeKalb came up short in the defense of its 2011 title with 181 points to finish in third. Echols, Anthony Kaigler (126) and Corey Strickland (145) all took gold to lead the Panthers.

The 2012 William S. Venable Trophy for the Best All-Around Wrestler was awarded to St. Pius' Robert Martin who won gold in the 138 pound class. The coaches also awarded the Best Finals Match to the 152 class battle between Lithonia's Anthony Smith and Stephenson's Stephen Wylie. Smith won the title with a 6-2 decision to stay undefeated at 18-0 while Wylie fell to 44-2 on the year with both losses coming to Smith.

The rest of the gold medal winners were Romello Swain (106) of Tucker, St. Pius' Brian Peragine (113), Gashaw Belete (132) of Clarkston, Darion Perry (160) of Stephenson, Jaquille Fitzpatrick (171) of Lithonia and Redan's James Philpot (182). Swain, Philpot and Echols won their second consecutive gold medals in the DeKalb County Championships.

Mark Brock Athletics Statistician/Information Officer/Web Manager DeKalb County Schools Athletics/East DeKalb Campus