Streak hits 100
- Updated: January 11, 2017
Weaver’s Souder runs his winning streak to 100 matches as the Bearcats win region dual championship
Weaver senior Nick Souder gets control of Wellborn’s Brady Rinehard in his first match Tuesday night. Souder pinned Rinehard for his 99th consecutive victory and made it 100 straight a short while later against Alexandria. (Photos by Daniel Lee)
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
WEAVER — Outside of maybe some type of drill in practice Weaver wrestler Nick Souder can’t remember doing anything in his life 100 times in a row.
The senior state champion ran his current winning streak to 100 matches in a row Tuesday when he won twice to help the Bearcats win the 1A-5A Region 4 championship with victories over Wellborn and Alexandria.
Wrestling up at 132 to help the lineup, Souder pinned Wellborn’s Brady Rinehard in the second period and later scored a 15-0 decision over Alexandria’s Dakota Medders, a wrestler he was unfamiliar with, to hit the milestone.
“I didn’t know until my mom told me and I said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty neat,’” Souder said.
The streak started early last season, following a tight decision to Southside’s Jacob Smith. He won his last 62 matches on the way to repeating as state champion and improved to 38-0 this year with his two victories Tuesday night. He kept it alive by beating Smith earlier in the year by the same score he lost by the previous season.
Weaver coach Andy Fulmer considers himself a “numbers guy,” keeping track of various records over the years, and he can’t recall anyone putting together the run Souder has maintained.
“This is kind of a new one for me,” he said. “I think it’s an awesome accomplishment individually; he’s done a great job, that’s for sure.
“But he’s always put the team first. He’s always wanting to make everybody around him better, so he’s not an individual guy who wants all these records for himself. You could ask him if he could win an individual state championship or us win a team state championship which would he pick, he’d pick the team championship because he knows that’s what I want and he wants to be a team guy. I’m glad he’s on my team.”
The tri-match Tuesday determined the two teams the region will send to the new state duals tournament. Weaver defeated Wellborn 48-30 and Alexandria 33-30. Alexandria beat Wellborn 46-36 for the region’s No. 2 spot.
Fulmer called the atmosphere “the best dual meet I’ve been part of in a while.” He said the crowd rivaled that of Weaver’s Gene Taylor Memorial tournament earlier this year.
In what amounted to the region championship match against Alexandria, the Bearcats opened a 33-23 lead and held on by avoiding being pinned in the closing matches involving the lighter weights.
“It wasn’t pretty but they fought and battled,” Fulmer said. “There was a lot of fight in the kids. I’m just proud of the kids for battling. It’s wasn’t pretty, but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”
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