NASHVILLE – One Williamson County high school senior grabbed his third consecutive Johnny Drennan Memorial Wrestling Invitational title, while the other earned his first at the prestigious local tournament hosted at Father Ryan.
Both are ready for the bigger prize: wrestling for a state championship next month. The tournament works well as a precursor of sorts to kick off the New Year against a collection of some of the state’s best wrestlers as well as high-caliber talent from six other states.
“If you’re in the mix here, I think you are challenging for a potential state title,” said reigning National Coach of the Year Pat Simpson of Father Ryan, who is in his 46th season leading the Irish.
Wrestling Photo Gallery – Johnny Drennan Memorial Championships, Medal Rounds
The 57th Johnny Drennan Memorial Wrestling Invitational at Father Ryan took place Friday and Saturday Jan. 5-6, 2024 in Nashville and featured 49 different schools from six states. This gallery features all 14 championships and several medal rounds.
Summit High’s Landon Desselle won all five of his matches over the two-day tournament to claim a rare third consecutive Johnny Drennan Memorial championship, taking the 144-pound bracket with an 8-2 decision over Tullahoma’s Caiden Mears on Saturday. He rode the momentum of his tournament win last season at Father Ryan to win a state championship.
“I know I wrestled good enough to win, but I still have things to work on,” said Desselle, a three-time state medalist who has signed with Ohio State. “This is one that I circle on my calendar. I know it’s always going to be a battle and you just have to come out here and try to wrestle your best and believe in yourself.”
Brentwood’s Arash Yazdani was the only other county winner out of five local finalists. Yazdani, who placed fourth last year at the tournament and also finished fourth at state, was relentless all tournament at 138 pounds winning with four technical falls and taking the title with a 13-4 major decision against Collierville’s Damen Pullen.
“He really wanted this one and he went out and got it,” said Brentwood coach Damon Smith, whose team placed fifth in the final standings out of 49 schools. “Arash has that desire to win a state championship and I think he has every ability to make it happen.
“He is completely dedicated to the sport, the training and the lifestyle it takes to be a champion.”
It’s been a roughly five-year journey to the top of the podium for the Bruin senior who recalled practicing against Desselle, a longtime training partner and friend, as an eighth grader.
“Oh man, that was not pretty,” he said smiling. “But you have to train to get better and now we train every day it seems. He gives me advice now and I can give him some.
“There’s this culture that has been built and that’s pretty cool to be a part of.”
It’s the kind of culture Summit coach Pete Miller has been striving to establish for the area since planting roots in WillCo back in 2012 when the Cleveland graduate left the Chattanooga-area hotbed for a position at Spring Station Middle and eventually became head coach for the Spartans.
“You saw it right at the end there, our guys huddled up with the Brentwood guys and everybody’s mixed together,” Miller said. “You have to put your egos aside, work together and realize that on the mat, yeah, it’s a fist fight, but off the mat, we all have the same thing in common and the only difference is the colors of our schools.
“I’m always so excited to see that camaraderie among our local teams, especially at the end of a tough weekend because this is the toughest tournament individually in the state of Tennessee.”
Kentucky’s Union County clinched a second consecutive team title with 272 points with medalists in 10 of 14 weight classes paced by sophomore twin brothers Jordyn and Jayden Raney’s wins at 132 and 126 pounds. McCallie (244.5) was second and the host Irish placed third (229.3), edging South Carolina’s Eastside, which had five finalists.
“You’re not going to get any better going to a tournament where the competition’s not great and you’re not challenged, so that’s what I’ve always liked about our tournament because we seem to have enough high quality competition,” Simpson said. “There’s no easy match here … again, if you can do well in this tournament, then you’ve got a good chance to do well at the state tournament.”
Father Ryan’s Joseph Calvin (120) and Chancery Dean (150) both collected key championships for Father Ryan.
Like the hosts, the Union County twins always drew a crowd every time they wrestled. Jordyn Raney won the U17 Greco-Roman 55kg World Championship in August, while Jayden Raney was a double champion at the Fargo Wrestling National Championships over the summer, winning Greco-Roman and freestyle for a second year in a row.
Summit senior Jarvis Little wrestled Jordyn for the second season in a row in the finals of the Johnny Drennan Memorial. The pair battled to a 9-6 decision last year in the 126-pound finals with Raney claiming the win. Both went on to repeat as state champions.
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On Saturday, Raney claimed a 9-3 win over Little in the 132-pound final scoring two quick takedowns in the first period. Neither scored in the second period before Raney sealed the win with two more takedowns in the third.
It was the second weekend in a row that Little settled for runner-up after grappling with a nationally-ranked opponent in the finals. He fell to Marcus Blaze of Perrysburg, Ohio, the top-ranked wrestler in the country at 126 pounds, last weekend at the Brecksville Invitational Holiday Tournament in Ohio.
“Every final he gets into, there’s some kind of special on the other side,” Miller said. “Jarvis has met the competition, and that’s what we want. It makes us better.”
Other runners-up from WillCo included Spencer Kon of Independence at 190 pounds and Taylor Wimsatt of Brentwood Academy at 165, both of whom took fourth at the Johnny Drennan Memorial last year.
Kon pinned his first three opponents and kno
cked out Brentwood Academy’s Brody Belville 6-3 in the semis before suffering a 1-0 defeat against Lakeway Christian’s Jay Eversole in the finals. Independence teammates Riddeck Romano (144) and Locke Sessions (106) both added fifth-place finishes for the Eagles.
Wimsatt battled into the finals with three decisions and one major before falling to Wisconsin’s Isaiah Guerrero 6-5 in the championship. Guerrero was credited with a takedown with 51 seconds left in the third period and hung on for the win.
Summit finished seventh in the team standings. Spartan heavyweight Peters Savarino battled back from a tough ultimate tie-breaker setback in the semifinals against McGavock’s Elijah Sumner to take third with a 5-1 decision against Brentwood big-man Jackson Ard, a definite precursor to future district and region battles between the pair.
“He’s our what 5-foot-6 heavyweight, but he takes it all and did really well,” Miller said of Savarino. “Definitely proud of that guy.”
Zachery Little, who was guzzling water to make weight at 157, added a sixth-place showing while the Spartans were also boosted by the return of Jackson Bourdon at 126. Bourdon narrowly missed a podium finish, but went 3-2 over the two days.
Blaise Masi of Summit was the other Spartan medalist and placed eighth after falling to Reed Loeffel of Brentwood in one of three all-WillCo consolation matches.
Besides Savarino’s win over Ard and Loeffel’s victory against Masi, Brentwood Academy’s Bo Dominguez edged Ravenwood’s Maddox Eskew 10-9 in the 120-pound third-place match.
