By MICHAEL BOYLAN

Sports Editor

The Starr's Mill Panthers wrestled in the 4-AAA area tournament at Sandy Creek on Saturday. They knew that Woodward Academy was the favorite to win the meet, what they did not know was how close to the War Eagles they would finish. Woodward finished the meet with 253.5 overall points, Starr's Mill finished with 244.5. Coach Mickey Statham expected the Panthers to finish in second place but the results were still pleasing. They qualified 13 wrestlers for next weekend's state meet in Rome, Ga. as well as qualifying one alternate.

Starr's Mill had 11 wrestlers make the finals, six of whom finished as champions: Jason Kiefer at 125, Ariston Bowers at 135, Drew Cofty at 140, Matt Fuhrman at 152,Stephen Behringer at 189 and Clint Barbour at 215.

Second place finishers were Gary James at 103, Bryan Kyser at 130,Christopher Coleman at 145, Rusty Lyle at 160 and Akhil Chhabra at 171. Matt Thurber and Dustin Lyle took third place at 112 and 119 respectively. Tony Tofanelli is an alternate in the 275 pound weight division.

The AAA state meet begins at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at the Forum in Rome, Ga. The meet will run through Saturday as well. The Panthers expect some tough competition from Woodward and Troup County as well as many of the north Georgia schools like Murray County and Ringgold.

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