MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County wrestling team tuned up for Saturday’s Region 1-7A traditional tournament by taking first place in the recent Syrupmaker Open in Cairo.

The short-handed Packers were without wrestlers at 113, 170 or 220, but still handled the field, which also included Cairo, Leon, Valdosta, Thomas County Central, Tift County, Bainbridge and Pelham.

Valdosta was second in the tournament, which allowed teams to have multiple entries in each weight class.

Scoring was different, with only each team’s highest placement points counting. Match and falls points were not recorded.

Four Colquitt County wrestlers took first-place finishes.

Austin Paradice won both of his matches at 138, defeating Valdosta’s John Walsh by a fall and taking a decision over Cairo’s Kason Sellers.

At 145, Deontae Edwards went 3-0, starting with a decision over Valdosta’s Cedric Stewart.

Edwards also won by fall over Adam Pascual of Bainbridge and by technical fall over Leon’s Ethan Eudy.

Nate Taylor, at 152, also was 3-0. He won by forfeit over Valdosta’s Aryan Patel, by technical fall over Colquitt County teammate Aaron Garcia and by a decision over Joseph Player, also of Colquitt County.

Vendarion Knighton, wrestling at 285, won by fall over all three of his opponents: Nic Flounoy of Valdosta, Donya Golson of Thomas County Central and Garrett Sumner of Tift County.

Four Packers had second-place finishes.

Gabe Freeman split his two matches at 106.

At 132, Alek Rosales won his first two matches, defeating Russell Shepherd of Pelham and Donterrius Whitaker of Tift County, both by decision.

Rosales lost by decision to Tyler Lamon of Valdosta in his final match.

Player won three straight by fall at 152 before losing to Taylor. He defeated Hunter Harris of Bainbridge, Darius Monts of Colquitt County and Darrell Peck of Cairo.

Nelson Salaz went 2-1 at 160 pounds, winning by falls over Tanner Turpin of Thomas County Central and Mathew Flores of UC before losing a decision to Joseph Pezent of Cook.

At 182 pounds, Travis Summers also went 2-1, winning by fall over Brandon Green of Cairo and Tyren Dasher of Thomas County and dropping a decision to Antione Scott of Valdosta.

Ethan Sellers, Michael Bledsoe, Aaron Garcia and Collin Crosby each won three of their four matches and finished third in their weight classes.

Sellers, wrestling at 120, won twice by fall over Cairo’s Miguel Bastida and also by fall over Valdosta’s Zion Leggett. His loss was to Kaleb Davis of Valdosta.

At 126, Bledsoe won by decision over Pelham’s Hunter Pedroza, Tift County’s Martez Wilson and Bainbridge’s Daniel Cofty. He dropped a decision to Leon’s Nolan Zirgibel.

Garcia, at 152, lost to teammate Nate Taylor, but won by decision over Cairo’s Terrance Peoples, Tift County’s Gabe Meders and Bainbridge’s Hunter Harris.

Crosby won by fall over Bainbridge’s Hunter Griffin twice. He also won by fall over Valdosta’s Nic Flounoy. He lost by fall to Garrett Sumner of Tift County.

Also competing for the Packers in Cairo were James Vaughan at 120; Jordyn Edwards, 145; Kiearis Daniels, 152; Jose Camarena, 182; Deshawn Harris, 195; and Mason Sellers, at 285.

Saturday’s region traditional tournament at Camden Saturday will start at 11 a.m.

The state sectional tournament is scheduled for Feb. 7-8 in Perry.