Cody Quick, left, was named "Outstanding Wrestler" in the higher weights at Saturday's Region 5 tournament at Warren County High School while Rene Karteron was named "Outstanding Wrestler" for the lower weight classes.

  McMINNVILLE---The Tullahoma Wildcat wrestling team turned in a sensational performance at the Region 5 wrestling tournament at Warren County High School Saturday with 11 wrestlers qualifying for this week’s state tournament in Chattanooga.
  In the process they shattered the school record for most wrestlers qualifying for state in a given year. The previous high was eight, and that was set several years ago. But, the Cats weren’t just content to qualify for the state meet by finishing in the top-three of their region weight division. They captured seven championship medals, finished second in another division and took third place in three others.
  In addition, the Cats walked off with all the major hardware awarded at the meet. As a team, they put a gaudy 243 points on the board while the second-place team, Oakland, had 157. Rene Karteron was named “Outstanding Wrestler” at the meet for lower-weight competitors, and Cody Quick was named “Outstanding Wrestler” for the higher weights. Ziad Aboulmouna’s overtime win over Warren County’s Casey Russell earned the two the coveted “Outstanding Match” award. And, to top it off, coach Jimmy Miller was named “Region 5 Coach of the Year.”
  The win capped off a magical couple of weeks for the Wildcat program. They finished fifth at the state duals last weekend in Clarksville in their first-ever trip to that prestigious event. Now, they will be sending their strongest contingent ever to the state tournament for individuals Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the Round House in Chattanooga.

Tullahoma's Ziad Aboulmouna, right, and Warren County's Casey Russell won the coveted "Best Match" award at Saturday's regional tournament for their rousing battle at 119 pounds. Aboulmouna won in overtime.

  Once all the preliminaries were over Saturday, matches for first- and second-place medals and third- and fourth-place were held on side-by-side mats, starting with two 103 pound battles and moving right up the weight chart. Tullahoma had championship matches in the first four weight classes, and they won all four.
  Wesley Foutch got things off to a rousing start with a 7-2 win over a Siegel wrestler at 103. Will Norris then took on a Riverdale opponent at 112, and after falling behind 5-2 early, Norris roared back for an 11-6 victory.
  Ziad Aboulmouna and Casey Russell then locked up in their classic battle at 119. Aboulmouna fell behind slightly early but came back and appeared to have the match in hand with a 5-4 lead when he was called for stalling with just four seconds left. Russell was awarded a point that tied it and sent it to sudden-death overtime. Aboulmouna quickly put it away with a take down and back points for a 10-5 victory.
  Rene Karteron had a nip and tuck battle with a Blackman wrestler at 125. Karteron scored a couple of points late to take a 10-6 lead he would keep until the end. Next up for the Wildcats was Trevor Schmidt at 135 pounds. Schmidt recently dropped down in weight classification, and it paid off big with a regional championship win over a Riverdale opponent. Schmidt won by pin.

Tullahoma Wildcat coach Jimmy Miller, left, received the 'Region 5 Coach of the Year' award at Saturday's region tournament in Warren County.