HUNTINGTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur wrestling Bucs competed in the Ernie Sparks Duals Invitational this past Saturday at Cabell Midland High School.

The tournament is named after former Barboursville and Cabell Midland wrestling head coach Ernie Sparks who passed away in 2018.

The Bucs, who weren’t competing at full strength, finished the day with a 2-3 record.

“Our line-up was left with a few holes this past weekend due to some injuries and sickness,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur wrestling head coach Jacob Orr. “We were without Aidan Wilson at 126 and Oscar Blonn at 182 because of injuries and Brodee Kennedy at 138 and J. T. Thompson at 220 were both out due to illness. Alex Bennett (285) is still in recovery from his season-ending injury from last April at the state tournament.”

The Bucs had three wrestlers finish the day with perfect 5-0 records – Liam Garcia at 120 pounds, Tucker Hurst at 145 pounds and Luke Bohnsack at 152 pounds.

“All three had good days on the mat and competed at high levels,” stated Orr. “Bohnsack looked really good and you can tell is getting more comfortable.”

Nathaniel Tyson at 106 pounds was the other Buc to post a winning mark at 3-2.

“Tyson, as a first-year kid, had an awesome day,” noted Orr.

Daniel Hedrick (132) and Trevur Randolph (160) both finished 2-3 at the tournament.

“Hedrick is still figuring his way out and navigating his transition from middle school to high school and Randolph wrestled well and had a solid day, but got caught in a couple of funky positions that changed the outcome of his matches.”

Trevor Miller-Waycastor (170) picked up a win out of his normal weight class for the Bucs.

“Miller-Waycastor is a guy willing to step up and fill sports for us,” remarked Orr. “He wrestled about 15 pounds over his weight, but goes to battle each and every match.”

Ian Cornett (113) and Caden Barger (195) failed to win a match but Orr was pleased with the effort from both competitors.

“Cornett is an undersized freshman that filled in a weight class for us giving up about 10 pounds and wrestled his guts out while Barger is a first-year freshman that is really growing and putting fourth a solid effort on the mat,” remarked Orr.

The Bucs will be back on the mat this Friday and Saturday in the two-day Musselman Duals.

Orr said his line-up will be full this weekend and look like this – Tyson (106), I. Cornett (113), Wilson (126), Kennedy (132), Hurst (138), N. Cornett (145), Bohnsack (152), Randolph (160), Miller-Waycastor (170), Blonn (182), Barger (195), Thompson (220) and Bennett (285).

“The line up should be filled out this weekend and we will be ready to rock,” concluded Orr.