Danville’s Morgan Sallee won the 120 pound title in the Lafayette Five Star Classic on Saturday, Dec. 21.

It was his sixth time competing in the tournament, and his previous high finish was third place. In his first trip to the finals on Saturday, he came out with the win via a 10-3 decision over Nolan Banfield from Montgomery County.

Sallee received a first round bye in the tournament. In the second round, he took down Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Keaton Schott to get the win by fall. He earned another win via fall in the quarterfinals, taking down Jack O’Brien of the host Lafayette.

In the semifinals, Sallee met and took down Robert McKinney of North Hardin.

Charlie Blevins also received a first round bye in the tournament, but lost by fall to Alex Bowlds of Apollo in the second round. 

However, Blevins did not have another match, as he was awarded victories in the remainder of the consolation matches to earn the 106 pound division’s seventh place via forfeit. He was Danville’s other top eight finisher.

In the 152 pound class, Holden McKnight earned a first round win by fall over Taylor County’s Ethan Burgess. In the second round, McKnight couldn’t overcome Walker McCubbin of South Oldham. McKnight and Franklin County’s Jose Rios went the distance in the consolation bracket’s second round, but Rios took it by a 7-3 decision.

Justus Turner took down Aidan Barnes from Lafayette in the 170 pound’s first round, but was defeated by LaRue County’s Thomas Boone in the second round. Turner then earned a win over Kaleb Cunnigham of Male in the consolation bracket, but lost by disqualification to Matt Wyatt of Montgomery in the third round.

Alicia Campbell, Micah Chappell and Gavin Rodriguez also earned byes in the first round. Chappell won his first match over Scott County’s Jacob Stanley in the second round. Campbell fell to WIll Sutherland of Lafayette in the second round and then was bested by Trinity’s Will Botner after receiving a bye in the consolation round of the 113 pound division. Rodriguez was unable to defeat Kenneth Aitken from Franklin County in the second round and then fell to Will Smithers in the consolation round of the 195 pound division.

Chappell lost by fall in the quarterfinals to Braedon Herron from North Hardin in the quarterfinals, and the was defeated by Chris Begley of Madison Southern in the third consolation round of the 126 pound division.

Ethan Updike fell to Noah Huff from Scott County in the first round and then to Mason Shepherd of Apollo in the first consolation round in the 138 pound division.

In the 145 pound class, Tyshawn Lyttle lost by fall to Camden Bohannon of Taylor County in the first round and to Elijah Phan of Male in the consolation bracket. James Perry fell to Dylan Norton of Male in the 160s and then to Marcus Hutchinson of Montgomery County.

“Another rough weekend, but we gained some valuable experience,” Danville head coach Joey Sallee said. “Several of our young guys are showing improvement each week. This was (Morgan) Sallee’s sixth time competing in this tournament. He had placed as high as third in the past, but had never made it to the finals. It was a nice win for him.”

The Admirals will compete in the Woodford County Invitational on Friday and Saturday and head to Wayne County for the Border Wars on Dec. 30.