PHILIPPI – Buckhannon-Upshur’s Nathaniel Tyson is a Big 10 Conference champion after winning his weight class in  the two-day tournament last Friday and Saturday at Philip Barbour High School.

Tyson won the 106 pound division.

Tyson received two byes then pinned Preston’s Robbie Lowe in the semifinals in 56 seconds. In the title match, he earned a 6-4 decision over Fairmont Senior’s Bryce Nichols.

The Bucs had four earn runner-up honors – Ian Cornett (113 pounds), Liam Garcia (120 pounds), Andrew McDowell (138 pounds) and Nathan Cornett (150 pounds).

Cornett received two byes then won by forfeit over Riley Trotto of East Fairmont before dropping an 8-6 decision in the championship class to Triston Willis of Fairmont Senior.

Garcia received two byes and then won a 7-2 decision over Will Stewart of Fairmont Senior in the semis. He lost a heartbreaking 2-1 decision to North Marion’s Noah Hess in the title bout.

McDowell pinned North Marion’s Landen Carnes in the quarterfinals in 1:46, pinned Preston’s Sam Kimas in 1:04 in the semis before dropping a 10-5 decision to Fairmont Senior’s Hunter Spitnogle in the title match.

Nathan Cornett received two byes then pinned Lewis County’s Kevin Parsons in 4:53 in the semis and then lost a close 3-0 decision to Gavin Michael of Fairmont Senior in the title match.

As a team, the Bucs finished second out of the 13 teams with 179 points. Fairmont Senior won the team title with 282 points while Preston was behind the Bucs in third place with 163.

“We did what we were supposed to do this weekend,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Jacob Orr. “We went out and took care of business. This is our fourth year in a row finishing second behind Fairmont Senior, they’ve got a heck of a program going on over there. Nathaniel Tyson capped off his Big 10 career with a conference championship finishing first at 106. It was a tight match down to the wire and he popped off a beautiful single leg with time running out for the win. He’s wrestling on a different level right now.”

Overall, the Bucs had 11 wrestlers place in the top six.

Picking up third places were Landon Zirkle (144 pounds), Trevor Miller-Waycaster (175 pounds), Oscar Blonn (190 pounds) while Jeremiah Thompson (215 pounds) finished fourth and Colton Wendling (157 pounds) and Dirk Riley (165 pounds) placed fifth.

The Bucs will be back on the mat Saturday in the Region I Championships at Preston.