The Pinecrest wrestling team had an incredibly successful week last week, winning both a dual meet and a tournament.

Last Wednesday, both the jayvee and varsity teams traveled to Anson High School to wrestle the Bearcats in a dual meet. Winning 57-21, Pinecrest brought their dual meet record up to 3-4, which coach Travis Flinchum said is a step in the right direction for his young varsity lineup — more than half of which is made up of sophomores and freshmen.

The jayvee team had six wrestlers match up against the Anson jayvee squad and started the night off on the right foot by winning all their matches.

Flinchum is very excited about the number of kids who have filled out the ranks of his jayvee and varsity teams — currently 40 — which allows the lineups to have more depth of talent now and, more importantly, in the future as the Patriot wrestling program continues to grow and strengthen.

The Patriot varsity lineup got off to a rough start, giving up three losses and spotting the Anson Bearcats a 15-point lead following a tight 6-7 decision loss in the 171-pound match for sophomore Hawk George, followed by two quick losses by pin for 189- and 215-pound sophomores Ryan McQuire and Luke Fetla.

The tide started to turn with a close 8-7 decision win by Pinecrest junior Calvin Farlow against Anson senior Kevin Marshall in the heavyweight class.

Though Pinecrest then gave up a forfeit at 103 to give Anson an 18-point lead, the waves came crashing down on the Bearcats, as one after one, the Patriot varsity wrestlers pinned all of the next nine weight classes in quick succession from 112 up to the 160, the final weight class for the meet.

Pinecrest junior Zac Lupien pinned freshman Chris McDaniel in 1:32 at 112, senior Chris Martin pinned Vernin Rory in 15 seconds at 119, sophomore Cody Fitzgerald pinned junior Keyshawn Hill in 1:00 at 125, and sophomore Sawyer Bateman pinned junior Robert Chapman in 1:33 at 130.

Freshman Dallas Roemer pinned senior Quentin Lowrey in 1:05 at 135, junior team captain Garrett Bateman (currently ranked eighth in the state at 140 4A) pinned sophomore Duajel Gibson in 1:36 at 140, junior team captain Dustin Roemer (currently ranked second in the state at 145 4A) pinned Brandon Smith in 1:00 at 145, freshman Rider Excell pinned freshman Jekev Robinson in 1:32 at 152, and senior Nathan Frederique pinned junior Jeremy Buchanon in 2:54 at 160 in the last match.

The Pinecrest varsity wrestlers then traveled to the Trinity Invitational Tournament on Saturday to compete against 12 other varsity teams. They captured the first place tournament trophy with 177.5 team points.

Nine of the 13 Pinecrest wrestlers who competed made it to the finals with seven placing in the top three, three first place winners, two second place winners and two third place winners.

At 160, Frederique (8-4) won first place with three pins against Tyrone Little, of High Point, at 1:50, Matthew Webster, of Chatham Central, at 52 seconds and Jeremy Shives, of Trinity, at 5:34.

Dustin Roemer (13-0) placed first at 145 with a pin against Landon Williams, of Providence Grove, at 36 seconds, then had a 15-0 technical fall against Darrel Martin, of Lexington, and a final pin at 2:40 against Caleb Crotts, of Randleman, who is ranked No. 7 in the state 2A in the 152-pound weight class.

The final first place winner for the Patriots was Dallas Roemer (13-0), who wrestled at the 130-pound weight class and pinned Terrill Harris, of Page, in 42 seconds, then won a 14-2 major decision against Danford Carpenter, of Lexington, and finished the tournament by pinning Chandler Swaim, of Glenn, at 1:31.

Lupien (10-1) won second place at 103 with pins against Providence Grove and Wheatmore and then a tough loss to Lexington's Tyler Davis, who is ranked No. 1 in the state at 2A.

Excell (9-4) also took second after pinning wrestlers from Chatham Central and High Point Central then losing to 4A No. 10-ranked Eric Bledsoe, of Glenn, in a 4-8 decision final match.

At 215, Fetla (8-6) won his first match against Wheatmore before being sent to the consolation round from a loss to 2A No. 2-ranked Cameron King, of Trinity. Fetla was then able to pin his next two opponents from Western Guilford and Page to place third in his weight class.

Chris Martin (5-2) at the 112-pound weight class wrestled the most matches of the team to win his hard-earned third place finish. Martin won a 19-14 decision against Providence Grove before being knocked into the consolation bracket by a loss to 2A No. 5-ranked Tyler Myers, of Trinity, then fought his way back with three pins against Southern Guilford, High Point Central and Glenn.

Riding the waves of their recent successes, the 2009-10 Southeastern Conference champions were scheduled to travel to Purnell Swett on Tuesday for their first in-conference dual meet of the current season.

The team will participate in the Ashbrook Tournament and the prestigious Tiger Holiday Classic over the school break.