CAMERON This season’s first winter sports team from Richmond Senior High School, the Raider Wrestling team, made the trip to Union Pines High School on Saturday.
The Raiders participated in the Viking Invitational’s team and individual competitions alongside 17 other teams.
After scoring 45 points in what head coach Andre Ellerbe called a good warm-up for the team to start the season, Richmond finished 14th overall.
Richmond wrestled seven different men, concentrating on the individual portion of the competition. Football season kept many of the Raiders’ varsity starters out of action.
With a 4-2 record and a spot near the top of the consolation round, two freshmen led the squad on Saturday.
NaSean McBride (138 pounds) and Dylan Nunez (120 pounds) combined for 26 points. McBride led the team with 16 points, while Nunez scored 10.
Nunez won the opening round of the championship bracket via pinfall against Jarvis James of Westover High School. Nunez won his next three matches in three different ways after losing to Mac Johnson (Cape Fear High School), the current state champion.
After defeating Ryken Floyd (Union Pines) by pin to begin the consolation round, he went on to defeat James Brooks (Union Pines) 11–6. Nunez last defeated Jazten Hall (Seventy-First High School) with a huge margin of 17–7.
After losing his opening round match, McBride moved on to the consolation bracket, where he went on to win four of his subsequent five games. He achieved his first career victory after winning a first-round bye.
The opening three minutes of the contest saw McBride pinfall Western Harnett High School’s Adam Tardiff. Lucian Martin (Union Pines), Josiah Campos (Cape Fear), and Kosei McDowell (Union Pines), who had a redemption victory for his previous loss, were the three first-round pins in McBride’s subsequent three bouts.
When Andrew Alexander (Hickory Ridge High School) was forfeited out of the first round of the 138-pound consolation bracket, McBride emerged victorious in the fight for fifth place.
On Saturday, two other Raider wrestlers, Dominic Santiago (215 pounds) and sophomore Konner Gardner (157 pounds), went 2-2.
In the first round of the championship bracket, Gardner, who scored eight points, defeated Anthony Quashie (Seventy-First) in a pinfall to start the season.
He went to the consolation round after losing in round two, where he was given a bye and defeated Emmanuel Scott (Westover) to win another pin.
Santiago won two of his four games and finished the day with seven points. After defeating Rashun McNeill of Westover via pinfall, he proceeded to pin Alex Feaster of South View High School.
Trevor Smith, a rookie weighing 175 pounds and with one victory, scored Richmond’s final four points. In the third round of the consolation bracket, he defeated Terry Sanford High School’s Cole Pettay by pinfall after suffering two byes.
Both freshman Francisco Canales (285 pounds) and sophomore Hayden Smith (144 pounds) finished the day with a 0–2 record.
North Moore High School will host Richmond’s first dual game of the season on Thursday. At 6 p.m., the Raiders will take on Central Carolina Academy and the host Mustangs.
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