MOULTRIE – Colquitt County will send nine of its wrestlers, including weight-class champions Austin Paradice and Vendarion Knighton, to the Georgia High School Association’s traditional state wrestling championships, which begin Feb. 9, at the Macon Metroplex.

The Class 7A championships will be held on Friday and Saturday.

The top-three finishers in each weight class from region tournaments advanced to the state championships.

Region 1-7A held its tournament on Saturday at Lowndes High, with wrestlers from region and state duals champion Camden County claiming nine weight-class titles. Lowndes had three region champions.

Paradice won his region championship at 145 pounds. Knighton won at 285 pounds.

Region runners-up were Gabe Freeman at 113, Ethan Sellers at 126, Nathanial Taylor at 138, Jesus Grijalva at 170 and Deshawn Harris at 195.

Third-place finishes went to Jayson Brown at 132 and James Bledsoe at 220.

The last Colquitt County wrestler to claim a state championship was Nic Jarvis, who won at 220 pounds in 2019. He is currently wrestling at Reinhardt University.

The only other Packer to win a state title is Travis Register, who took back-to-back championships at 220 pounds in 2012 and 2013.

Paradice will take a 40-2 record to Macon after winning by fall over Riley Price of Lowndes and by a fall over Porter Bryant of Camden County in Saturday’s region championships.

This weekend will mark the third straight trip to the state championships for Paradice, who finished fourth as a freshman in 2019 and second as a sophomore last year.

The past two seasons he has competed at 138 pounds. He has a career record of 142-24.

Knighton won his first match on Saturday via a 2-1 decision over Camden County’s Anthony Yancey.

He won the title with a fall at 2:41 over Tift County’s Keyshaun Jones.

Freeman won his 30th match of the season when he took an 8-3 decision over Camden County’s Matt Morton. But Freeman fell in first-place match to Ethan McCullough of Lowndes on a 14-3 major decision.

Sellers won his first match by a 12-9 score over Tyson McCullough of Lowndes, before losing to Camden County’s Konlin Weaver 3-0.

A junior, Sellers will take a 37-7 record to the state championships.

Taylor also won his 37th match of the season when he took a 7-3 decision over Tift County’s Quay Goldsboro. He then lost by fall to Camden County’s Anthony Doyle.

Grijalva won by fall over Devron Gardner of Lowndes before being pinned by Camden County’s Cahmari Johnson.

Harris won by fall over Tift County’s Dalton Hancock and lost by fall to Camden County’s Deonte Dozier.

Colquitt County also has three girls – Chloe Hill at 122 pounds, Kelsey Whitaker at 142 and Selena Rodriquez-Salas at 152 – who will compete in the girls state wrestling champions on Wednesday and Thursday in Macon.