Franklin County wrestlers, from left, Cristian Fravel, Zaelyn Smith and Levi Bridges stand together with their medals after competing in the Section 3A individual tournament Saturday at Forrest High School. Smith finished third in the 285-pound weight class while Bridges and Fravel finished fourth in the 113- and 120-pound divisions, respectively.
Franklin County wrestlers, from left, Cristian Fravel, Zaelyn Smith and Levi Bridges stand together with their medals after competing in the Section 3A individual tournament Saturday at Forrest High School. Smith finished third in the 285-pound weight class while Bridges and Fravel finished fourth in the 113- and 120-pound divisions, respectively.
Franklin County High School wrestlers Levi Bridges, Cristian Fravel and Zaelyn Smith competed in the Section 3A individual tournament Saturday at Forrest High School with all three advancing to the Class A state tournament.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class received berths to the state individual tournament with seniors Fravel and Smith and freshman Bridges each fitting the bill as the trio became the first members of the FCHS boys wrestling team to advance to the state brackets since Jacob Mathis and Robert Hines in 2017. Bridges is also the first freshman member of the FCHS wrestling program to earn a berth to the state tournament.
Smith had the top overall finish of the day for the Rebels as he placed third in the 285-pound bracket.
Smith began the day with a victory in the double-elimination bracket as he pinned Watertown’s Wesley Hamlet in 1:51.
However, he dropped down to the consolation bracket after taking a pinfall loss to Central Magnet’s Malik Boiling in 5:26 in the semifinals.
Smith took on Eagleville’s Joseph Williamson in the consolation semifinals with a spot in the state tournament on the line and held a 2-0 lead at the end of the first round with an early takedown.
Williamson scored an escape in the second round to get on the board, but Smith countered with an escape of his own to start the third round and scored an additional point due to a penalty being called on Williamson as the 4-1 decision victory advanced him to the third-place match.
Smith concluded his day with a rematch against Watertown’s Hamlet with Hamlet holding a 2-0 advantage after the first two rounds of the consolation finals.
However, Smith rallied back as he scored an escape and a takedown in the first minute of the third round to take a 3-2 lead. Hamlet briefly tied the score at 3-3 with an escape before Smith took him down once more with 17 seconds for a 5-3 decision in his favor.
Bridges recorded a fourth-place finish in the 113-pound bracket as he started the run off with a victory via medical forfeit over Greenbrier’s Rylan Burkett.
Bridges was in control early in the match as he held a 5-2 lead after the first round and scored two escapes and a takedown early in the second round to boost that lead up to 9-2.
Burkett nearly stole a pin late in the second frame, but Bridges held out long enough for the end of the round with a takedown and a 3-point nearfall in Burkett’s favor putting the score at 9-8.
However, the third round never began as Burkett had to withdraw due to an injury, advancing Bridges to the semifinals.
His opponent in the next round would be Station Camp’s Nathaniel Graham with Graham pinning Bridges in 45 seconds to give him a quick loss.
Bridges rebounded quickly against Community’s Alan Rayo as he scored several early takedowns and nearfalls before pinning him in 1:25 to clinch a state berth and advance to the consolation finals.
Bridges and Tullahoma’s Sayvion Surles wrestled a full three rounds with third place on the line as a first-round takedown and second-round two-point nearfall from Surles had Bridges trailing 4-1 going into the final period.
Bridges was able to score a two-point nearfall to start the third round, but Surles quickly scored a reversal to get back on top, and Bridges wasn’t able to counter as he took a 6-3 decision loss.
Fravel started his journey to a fourth-place finish in the 120-pound bracket with a 10-0 major-decision loss to Watertown’s Gunnar Tompkins.
Tompkins scored at least one takedown in each round to steadily pull away and send Fravel to the consolation half of the bracket immediately.
Fravel then faced off against Community’s Tristan Perry and kept his hopes for a state berth alive with a pinfall victory in 2:51 after scoring several three-point nearfalls throughout the second round.
Fravel’s opponent in the consolation semifinals would be Tullahoma’s Kiivon Butler, who had beaten Fravel for the 120-pound regional title on Feb. 10 via pinfall.
Fravel was in control early as a takedown and a two-point nearfall put him up 4-0 after the first round. An escape and a takedown from Butler in the second round was followed by a corresponding escape from Fravel to put the score at 5-3 going into the final frame.
The two wrestlers traded reversals midway through the third round with another escape from Fravel giving him an 8-5 advantage late. Butler took down Fravel with 10 seconds to go, but he wasn’t able to score any more points in the time remaining as Fravel came away with an 8-7 decision victory to clinch a trip to the state tournament.
Fravel ended the day by taking on Greenbrier’s Harold Ward in the third-place match with Ward ultimately pinning him in 2:34.
Bridges, Fravel and Smith will next compete in the Class A state individual tournament Friday at the Williamson County Ag Expo Park in the city of Franklin. The event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
