ST. PAULS — The St. Pauls wrestling team celebrated 10 seniors ahead of its East Central/Three Rivers Conference championship bout with Clinton on Thursday. Four of them earned pins and helped secure a 54-24 win in the last home meet of their high school careers.
The victory marks the fourth consecutive league title for St. Pauls (14-10) coach Tony McMillan, who was pleased with the progression his experienced group has displayed of late.
“Goal No. 1 was to win the conference championship again,” said McMillan. “From the beginning of the year until now, we’ve improved greatly.”
Bulldogs senior heavyweight Omar Pineda-Feliciano placed sixth in the WRAL High School OT Invitational on Dec. 22 and according to McMillan, was the first wrestler to do so in several years.
Against Clinton, he scored the team’s final pin and all but locked up the conference championship.
“I saw some of the fire that we’ve had in him from before,” McMillan said of the veteran’s performance on Wednesday. “It looked like he was aggressive and doing what he’s been taught to do.”
Before Pineda-Feliciano’s victory, three other Bulldogs seniors picked up consecutive pins: Tristan Webb, Danny Garcia-Saavedra, and Lalo Velasquez.
For Clinton, Zacchaeus Williams, Oscar Bennett and Linele Faison all used pins to win their respective matches.
St. Pauls heads to Jack Britt on Friday for the Boneyard Bash starting at 5 p.m.
