For the first time in the school’s brief wrestling history, Montgomery Catholic’s Preston Stone and Corey Cotter will each bring home medals from the AHSAA 4A state wrestling tournament in Huntsville.
Stone, a senior wrestling in the 112-pound division, will go against Steven Lindsey of Fultondale Saturday morning in the third-place match. Stone, 29-11 this season, won his opening match, pinning Taylor Simmons of Leeds. He then fell to Steven Kwan of Saint James, 1-0 in a hard fought-match. Stone bounced back in the consolation bracket to defeat Carlton Jones of American Christian in an 8-1 decision.
Cotter, a junior wrestling in the 135-pound division, has a chance to avenge his only loss of the tournament. He will meet Deshler’s Chandler Sartain in the third-place match. Sartain edged Cotter in a 5-3 decision early Friday.
Cotter, also 29-11 overall, then won two straight matches. He defeated Aaron Edwards of Dora 10-5, then beat Jonathan Boston of Holtville. Cotter led Boston 6-2 late in the match before Boston was disqualified.
Montgomery Catholic is in its third year of wrestling. Stone was the school’s first state qualifier, earning a berth in the 2008 tournament at 103 pounds.
In addition to his wrestling success, Cotter led the Knights boys’ cross country team to a fifth-place in the Class 4A state meet, finishing 7th and earned All-State honors.
