By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

The Starr's Mill wrestling team hosted the Starr's Mill Invitational last Friday and Saturday. Five other wresting programs were represented but Starr's Mill took home the gold, finishing with 210 points overall. Sprayberry finished in second place with 182 points, while Alexander finished in third place with 147 points. Central Carrollton, South Cobb and Douglas County round out the top six with scores of 118,82, and 76 points respectively.

The teams competed in dual events on Friday, as each team wrestled against two other squads. Starr's Mill face Central Carrollton and South Cobb. The Panthers defeated Central Carrollton by a score of 54-12 and then beat South Cobb by a score of 62-18. Brian Kiser, Drew Cofty, Ariston Bowers, Akhil Chhabra and Clint Barbour all recorded pins in their victories over the Carrollton wrestlers. Jason Kiefer won both of his matches on Friday by technical fall. Gary James won in the 103 pound weight division by a score of 19-4 against Carrollton and then pinned his South Cobb opponent in the second match. Chris Coleman, Tony Tofanelli and Matt Fuhrmann each recorded a pin against South Cobb.

On Saturday, the tournament began and 13 of the 14 Panther starters finished in the top three of their weight division. Brian Kiser was champion of the 130 pound division while Clint Barbour was champion of the 215 pound weight division. Tony Tofanelli, Akhil Chhabra, Matt Fuhrmann, Chris Coleman, Ariston Bowers, Jason Kiefer and Matt Thurber each finished second in their respective weight divisions. Gary James, Evan Beckett and Rusty Lyle finished in third place in their respective weight divisions. Stephen Behringer and Drew Cofty did not wrestle on Saturday due to injuries. Both wrestlers should be fine when practice starts up again after the holidays.

"I am very pleased with how the team wrestled and I'm just glad that we have some time off for some of these guys to heal," said Coach Mickey Statham. The Panthers will face St. Pius on Jan.2.

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