By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Beebe Badgers’ wrestling team finished sixth overall in the class 1A-5A division at the Arkansas High School State Wrestling Tournament on Saturday at UALR’s Jack Stephens Center.
Beebe’s 155 team points was half a point shy of tying Little Rock Christian for fifth place in the team standings. Maumelle all but dominated the competition on their way to the team title, racking up 352.5 points, which easily outpointed second-place Bismarck’s 198 points.
Central Arkansas Christian took third place in the team standings with 196.5 points, and Greenbrier secured fourth with 192.5 points.
The Badgers didn’t have any individual state champions at the event, but had eight leave the tournament with medals, including the only girl at the tournament to medal, sophomore Destiny Nunez.
While Nunez might have been the only girl to medal at the tournament, she wasn’t the only Badger wrestler to end the tournament with a win. Of Beebe’s eight medalists, six won their final matches of the tournament.
Senior Matthew Whitaker joined Nunez as a third-place medalist after he won a close 4-3 decision over Nick Stancil (20-7) of Bismarck. Whitaker, who ended the season with a 12-5 record in the 138-pound weight class, advanced to the third-place match by pinning Greenbrier’s Hunter Glover (19-18) in the consolation semifinals.
Seniors Alex Warner and Jackson Snelson finished fourth in their weight classes. Snelson (11-7), of the 145-pound weight class, advanced to the third-place match after beating Griffin Payne (15-19) of Berryville by pinfall, but Snelson lost a 4-0 decision to Hunter Goss (34-6) of Greenbrier in the third-place match.
Warner (7-7) advanced to the third-place match of the 195-pound weight class after winning a 7-4 decision over Bismarck’s Shelby Orr (21-10), but Warner lost an 8-3 decision to Joseph Bentley (10-4) of Little Rock Christian in the third-place match.
Beebe’s fifth-place medalists include 160-pound senior Jessie Glover (14-7), 170-pound junior Hunter King (13-5), 126-pound junior Micah Dubose (9-5), and 120-pound sophomore Justin Brannon (8-5), all of whom won their final matches Saturday.
Junior Zane Tallion didn’t medal at the state tournament, but finished the season with a winning record of 11-3.
