by Chris Hunt and Aaron Garcia

On Feb. 5, Hopewell wrestler Wesley Petrick won his first I-MECK 4A conference championship.

The Titan senior defeated Lake Norman High’s RJ Cloninger, 11-2, in the finals to claim the 112-pound division title. Petrick finished third last season.

Four more Lake Norman-area wrestlers reached the finals in their respective divisions but fell short of conference championships.

Hough’s Adam Nivens was pinned by Mooresville’s Matt Krider in the first period of the 119-pound finals, and fellow Husky Tanner Russ lost to West Charlotte’s Jeffrey Carothers – ranked sixth in the state by retrorankings.com at 125 pounds – by a count of 5-0. Hough’s Ed Stokes also finished in second place, falling to Mooresville’s Michael Huntley, 14-6, in a match that was much closer than the score indicated.

North Mecklenburg’s Latham York came up short in the finals of the 189-pound division. Hopewell’s No. 1 seed in York’s weight class, Nick Watson, did not make weight, coming in at 190 pounds. Watson is ranked third in North Carolina at 189 pounds.

All wrestlers – including Watson – will wrestle in the 4A Western Regional tournament Feb. 18-19 at Charlotte’s Bojangles’ Coliseum.