FAIRMONT – Buckhannon-Upshur’s Liam Garcia continued his fantastic senior season after having another solid performance in the Gerry Raymond Automotive Invitational (formerly the Winner’s Choice Tournament) at the Fairmont Field Armory.
Garcia took first place in the 120-pound division.
Garcia won this first match pinning Spring Valley’s Milo Mendoza-Moyers then won a 17-4 major decision over Cabell Midlands Isaac Wiseman. In the semis, he won a hard-fought 6-4 decision over Parkersburg’s Kayden McDonald and beat East Fairmont’s Xaden Willett in the championship by a 4-0 decision.
Ian Cornett took third place in the 113-pound division.
He opened the tournament with a pin over Ryan Tager of Morgantown, pinned Caleb Springfield of Washington, won a 9-3 decision over LJ Anderson of Cabell Midland before falling to eventual champ Garrett Johnson of Woodrow Wilson by a 9-2 decision. He rebounded to beat Landyn Lioi of Musselman by an 8-6 decision and then took third place beating Anderson again with an 8-4 decision.
Andrew McDowell was the other Buc to place, finishing seventh in the 138-pound division with a 4-2 mark.
He won a 7-3 decision over Riverside’s Avery Holland, pinned Fairmont Senior’s Caden Michalski before losing a 15-0 technical fall to eventual champion Woodrow Wilson’s JJ Biles. He came back to pin Preston’s Gavin Garlits but lost a 5-3 decision to Greenbrier East’s Kaden Stone before pinning Mussleman’s Hagan Windsor.
The other Bucs competing were Evan McDowell (157) and Oscar Blonns (215) at 2-2, Jeremiah Thompson (175) at 1-2, Aidan McDermott (132), Kyzer Hernandez (150), Chance Morgan (165), Domenick Castillo (190) and Breyer Jackson (285) at 0-2.
The Bucs had to forfeit weight classes at 106, 126 and 144.
The Bucs finished 16th out of 28 teams with 78 points.
Johnson Central (Ky.) won the team title with 207 points while Parkersburg South was second with 204.5.
Buckhannon-Upshur will be back in action Saturday at the Williamstown Tournament.
