Competing against thirty-four other registered teams, The Holly Springs Golden Hawks Youth Wrestling Club won the NCWAY Novice Challenge in Fayetteville, N.C. Saturday, Jan. 28. This event was designed for athletes with 0-2 years experience. The Hawks had 23 wrestlers competing. Performing much like the advanced youth Hawks and the high school Hawks (currently 27-2 and headed to the state playoffs), the novice team captured the title, distancing themselves from the second place team by 20 points. Capturing places for the Hawks were:

1st Christian Sodano

1st Jonathan Shamine

1st Chris McKoy

2nd Kevin Woomer

2nd Dawson Majette

3rd Joe Duquette

3rd Josh Knudten

4th Luke Rider

4th Gregory Shamine

Meanwhile, as the novice event was raging, the Rhino Extreme was being competed on parallel mats. The Extreme, aptly named as most brackets contained state champions from Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina or South Carolina, had five Hawks youth wrestlers competing. The Hawks batted 1,000 as all five placed in the Extreme. Earning spots on the podium were:

2nd Shane Wilson

2nd Ryan Wolfram

3rd Sam Lundsten

4th Soren Hill

4th Alec Montoya

In other wrestling news, the Hawks are proud to announce Caleb Benton of the Golden Hawks earned a spot on the North Carolina Dream Team which will be travelling to Michigan post-season to compete against other state teams in the NCWAY National Championships.

The Hawks will be taking the Feb. 4 weekend off, and then will return to action Feb. 11 in Asheboro for the Cougar Classic as they tune up for the NCWAY state championships Feb. 18 in Raleigh.