Braves have good day at District 32

The Absegami Braves will send seven wrestlers, more than half of the 13 they brought to District 32, to this week’s Region 8 tournament at EHT after a pretty good performance in their home gym Saturday.

George Rhodes and Sean Cowan won District 32 gold Saturday after solid performances at 175 and 157. Bhavya Rama, Frank Gargione and Julian Rivera played second. Brayden Wright and Nadhim Drinkard placed third. All of the above will advance to Region 8. Nick Gargione and Matthew Sterling finished fourth.

Cowan blew through the quarterfinals with a 12-second pin and an 11-2 major decision in the semis. He capped his day with a strong 8-2 win over veteran Charley Cossaboone of Ocean City in the finals. Rhodes had a similar day. He had a quick pin in the semifinals and an efficient 4-1 win over Trey McIeer of St. Augustine in the finals. Both Cowan and Rhodes should have favorable seeds at Region 8.

Rama fell to 36-1 Hunter Horsey in the finals at 132. Frank Gargione lost a 6-2 decision to Jurdain Hendricks in the finals at 138. Rivera lost in the finals at 150 to top seed Jake Slotnick of the Prep. Wright, a freshman at 144 with a .500 record, defeated third-seeded senior Ethan Rowley of Oakcrest, who was 22-9, to finish third. Drinkard, a senior with a 9-13 record, defeated third-seeded Anthony Aguanno of Pinelands 12-3 to finish third.

Fellow Freshmen Nick Gargione and Matthew Sterling lost their third-place matches to finish fourth. Both had good seasons and are destined for good things to come.

Absegamiwrestling.net will have more updates this week at Region 8 seeding becomes public.