By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

There will be 37 wrestling teams at McIntosh High School next Tuesday and Wednesday for the annual McIntosh Christmas Classic. The teams are of top caliber, featuring the highest ranked teams and wrestlers in the state and region.

There will be five mats with continuous action on Tuesday, mirroring the experience of the state meet. “It will be a great experience for our wrestlers,” said Sandy Creek wrestling coach Damian Belvedere. “It is important to let the kids see what the state meet would be like. They'll see all the big names and really feel the excitement and pressure.”

Most of the teams will be from Georgia, but some teams will be coming from as far away as South Carolina. Many of the interesting matchups will be between those teams that meet several times a year, pitting the same wrestlers against each other again and again. This is especially true for the teams in the county. Fayette County and Sandy Creek will both be participating in the tournament next week and many of the matchups will be key by the end of the season.

One example of this is the 140 weight class where Fayette County's Brad West will most likely see action against Sandy Creek's Larry Wright. The same goes for the 160 weight class where McIntosh's Michael Lee and Fayette County's Nick Salters will square off. These wrestlers do see each other several times during a season and the competition between them heats up as the season wears on.

Most teams aren't too concerned with the final results just yet. They are still trying to get some wrestlers down to a certain weight and several teams have only recently got their team back from the football field. They will all do their best to try to win, but the experience is the most important thing for their teams to gain.

The tournament will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 21 and 22 at McIntosh High School. The action will begin at 9 a.m.

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