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HUNTINGTON -- Buckhannon Upshur's Liam Garcia advanced to the championship of the Class AAA 120-pound weight class Friday night at Mountain Health Arena.
Garcia, (35-4) pinned Huntington freshman Ben Barrett and will now face Washington freshman Kai Plinski this evening in the title bout.
Plinski (40-5) advanced with a pin fall over Riverside's Josh Sergent in the other semifinal.
In Thursday night's opening bout, Garcia, a junior, pinned Sebastian Lemon. He then defeated Spring Mills' Jacob Perry by decision (3-1) in Friday's quarterfinals.
Elkins' Javier Rosario won his opening match on Thursday with a 14-7 decision against Ravenswood's Blake Dauch in Class AA-A 165-pound action.
The senior fell into the consolation bracket on Friday with a pin fall loss to Oak Glen's Braxton Dlugopoloski.
Rosario, who finished with a 33-9 record, then recorded a major decision (19-7) win over Grafton's Jeremiah Mitchell but was later eliminated by Braxton County's Tyler Cox by pin fall.
Also in Class AA-A, Philip Barbour sophomore Ryan Morris (120 pounds) went 1-2 in the tourney, earning a pin fall win over Independence's Seth Snuffer in Friday's consolation bracket.
B-U's Nathaniel Tyson (106) and Nathan Cornette (150) will continue wrestling today after earning wins in the consolation round on Friday.
Both fell in the quarterfinals of their respective weight classes earlier in the day but stayed alive in the tourney in the night session as Tyson defeated Hampshire's Justin Steinmetz and George Washington's Owen Anderson by pin falls and Cornette decisioned Washington's Caleb Kershisnik and pinned John Marshall's Ryan Ward.
Other Buccaneer state competitors included Ian Cornette, who won his opening match at 113 before falling in the quarterfinals and consolation round, Andrew McDowell, who went 1-2 at 138, and Oscar Blonn and Jeremiah Thompson, who were both 1-2 in the 190- and 215-pound classes, respectively.