Newark – The Bob Carpenter Center on the Campus of the University of Delaware with 12 wrestling mats sprawled across the floor was the battle ground for the 31st Beast of the East High School Wrestling Tournament.
The event featured 960 wrestlers from 168 teams representing 24 states converging on Newark, Delaware.
“It was a little overwhelming, but it was great just to see everybody in here and bringing everything together and tying up all the loose ends over the past year. It was just amazing,” tournament director Lorne Peterson said.
By the end of day one on Saturday 10 Delaware wrestlers reached the second day of competition with Salesianum 215 pounder Frank Miller leading the way and won his first two matches on Saturday to reach the quarterfinals. Miller defeated August Moser of Delbarton by a 16-1 technical fall followed by 7-4 decision over Noah Onkst of the McDonough School.
Miller will meet the number two seed Baron Lenoard of Eastside in Taylors, South Carolina.
Cape Henlopen freshman Austin Guerrieri reached the second day of competition the hard way, pulling an upset of Delaware’s number one ranked wrestler at 106 pounds, Clif Bakhsh of St. Mark’s 9-5. After a first round at 215 pounds teammate Patrick Donohue recorded a pin before falling to Leonard 5-1.
Seeded fourth at 113 pounds. Malachi Stratton of Sussex Central, a returning placewinner at the Beast, won his first three matches then lost an 8-4 decision to Waylon Rogers of Orange County in Virginia in the last round of the championship round on Saturday night. Teammate Evan Cordrey lost his first match at 132 pounds then reeled off four straight wins to return on Sunday.
Gabe Cannon made it three Golden Knights to earn to advance to day two at 175 pounds. Cannon went 3-1 on Saturday.
Delaware has two wrestlers make it out of day one in the 126 pound weight class as Hobe Givins of Sussex Tech reached Saturday’s final round before being pinned by Anthony Knox of St. John Vianney in New Jersey.
Tevor Copes of Caesar Rodney got off to a fast start winning his first two matches by technical fall before falling to the number five seed Sebastian Ortega of Howell High School in New Jersey by an 8-4 decision. Copes came back with a pin and then advanced to Sunday with a 3-1 decision over Tyler Wood of St. Mary Ryken.
The First State saw three wrestlers make it through day one at the beast, but all three will start off Sunday in the wrestleback round. 2023 state champion Cael Dinigris of Delaware Military Academy went 2-1 Saturday at 285 pounds.
The lone two Delaware representatives will meet in the opening match on Sunday. Chijioke Eule of Smyrna and Eliedxan Jarquin of Wm Penn both survived day one of the Beast and will square off in the first round on Sunday.
“This tournament is one of the toughest in the country. I have been watching a lot of the kids from Delaware. These kids have just given their all and it’s just amazing to see how much Delaware has continued to grow over time,” Peterson said.
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