FRANKLIN – Ryan Smith was exhausted Thursday night, but it was a good – better, yet – a great feeling.
The Summit High School senior's second win of the day – a gritty 4-1 decision over Maryville's Adrian Gumm cemented with a late take down – not only sent Smith to the Class AA State Wrestling Championship semifinals for the first time, it guaranteed a spot on the podium this weekend at the Williamson County AgEXPO Center.
"I'm tired, but it's the best tired ever," he said after defeating Gumm. "My lungs are blown out, but I'm in the semis and it feels amazing."
Smith is one of 20 Williamson County grapplers across the Class AA, Class A and girls' tournament fields to reach the coveted state semifinal round. All 69 county wrestlers return Friday with consolation action set for 10 a.m. The championship semifinals will begin at noon and consolation semifinals set for 6:30 p.m.
"Ryan's goal is to be a state champion and that's exactly what we are going to shoot for," Summit coach Pete Miller said. "We've got four guys who don't care about standings, rankings or anything. Anything can happen in any match, so we're going to go out and try to make things happen.
"It's going to be another exciting day."
Smith is joined by teammates Jarvis Little (120), Landon Desselle (132), Finley Jameson (145) and Emma Stephenson (138) in the semis. Smith's match was one of the last of the day and with the crowd thinning, he said he loved looking up to still see the Spartan faithful in the stands.
"The whole place is clearing out, but there was still a sea of orange up there," he said with a smile. "I know I'll get a million high-fives. It's just amazing – we're a family."
Smith will try to deny deny top-seeded Ashton Davis of Cleveland his third consecutive trip to the finals Friday. Davis has won the 220-pound title in back-to-back years.
For locals, 138 was the weight.
Brentwood sophomore Clark Vaughn powered into his first semifinal appearance and on the other side of the bracket at 138 in Class AA sits friendly rival Spencer Kon, a Independence sophomore who tipped Vaughn in both the Region 7-AA tournament finals and the Section 4-AA finals.
Vaughn will face top-seeded Sammy Shires of Rossview, a three-time third place finisher. Kon, who picked up a 5-1 decision over Caleb Mackie in the first round and a 10-4 decision against Sevier County's Dylon Pritchett in the quarterfinals, takes on Ethan Lipsey. The Bradley Central junior placed third at 113 last year.
"It was a good day," said Brentwood coach Damon Smith, whose 170-pounder Wyatt Gibbs also won two matches to advance in the championship bracket. "I thought Clark unleashed. We said if we can get through that first match (a 12-2 major decision against Cleveland's Charles Randall), we figured we could be here."
At 138 pounds on the girls' side, unbeaten Brooklyn Long of Independence is back in the state semis and her neighborhood foe Stephenson of Summit is on the other side of the bracket. Long pinned Stephenson in the Region 3 final last week.
The Indy junior placed third last year and can reach the finals for the first time with a win against Rossview's Gabriella Wilkinson. Long scored a pin in her opening match and a 7-1 decision against Kristyn Harr of Gibbs in the quarters.
Long's teammate Rylee Lent also reached the semis at 100 pounds, while Ravenwood senior Kaylen Thomas advanced as well at 132. Four of 15 female WillCo state qualifiers will wrestle for championship berths Friday.
In Class A, Page produced four semifinalists in 160-pound senior Will Parcel and juniors Josh Ward (152), Grant Hawkinson (132) and Thomas Brown (120). Parcel also extended his school-record mark to 61-0 on the season with a 22-second pin in the first round and a third-period fall of David Crockett's Rance Horton in the quarters.
Parcel will battle Maclain Otting of East Hamilton in the semis.
"I think it was an excellent day overall," said Page coach Benji Gray, whose team sits in fourth in the Class A standings, just three points behind No. 2 Signal Mountain and 1.5 points back from No. 3 Pigeon Forge. "We will have some tough matches tomorrow."
Brown runs into Signal Mountain favorite Caleb Uhorchuk, a three-time finalist, while Ward takes on Colin Dupill of Greeneville, another nationally-recognized wrestler who won state titles in Virginia before moving to East Tennessee. Hawkinson battles Hixson's Zander Hutson in his semifinal.
Hutson edged Hawkinson in a team dual on Dec. 11, 10-6, in their last meeting.
"Thomas will have a tough match, Will gets that East Hamilton kid who is just so explosive, but I think he is wrestling at the top of his game right now," Gray said. "Dupill is just a hammer, but you know, Jerzy Hendrix (of Tullahoma) is on the other side of the bracket in the semis as well and when he and Josh met in the region and sectional finals it was awarded best match both times.
"I think that says a lot of how tough we are to have multiple guys from the same region represented."
Fairview's Ken Curtis (182) and Jacob Clevenger (220) also reached the semis.
The two Yellow Jackets each finished runner-up last year. Curtis, who posted two first-period pins, faces a tough Red Bank sophomore in Kobe Smith, who also scored a pair of first-period pins. Clevenger gets Greeneville's Zac Chrisman.
Other state semifinalists are Centennial's Patrick Styblo (220) and Nolensville's Tre McTorry (152).
Styblo pinned his way into the semis, including a first-period fall against Rockvale's Brady Owen in the quarters.
Region 7-AA foe Dominic Green of Franklin pushed Wilson Central's top-seeded 220-pounder Noah Todd, who placed runner-up last year, before falling 5-3 in the quarterfinals. Styblo will face Todd for a championship berth.
McTorry faces Arlington's Jacob Roaten next. The sophomore overcame a 3-0 deficit against Bradley Central's Carson Parker in the first round for a 5-3 decision. He cemented a 10-7 decision against Cookeville's James Strong with a third-period takedown in the quarters.
Nolensville's region and section champ Zach Sinner fell 12-7 against returning medalist Connor Milhorn of Siegel in the quarters.
Of the 69 total county wrestlers, 27 suffered first-round defeats and will have to battle all the way through consolation rounds to reach the podium. Another 22 won their first matches, but lost in the quarterfinal round and will also begin the climb through the consolation ladder Friday.
