By Pete WickhamSpecial to The Weekly

Collierville made sure it clinched a return engagement to this weekend’s Di-vision 1 Dual State Wrestling Champion-ships, knocking off host Arlington 38-30 in the region semifinals and Bartlett 38-31 in the region finals last Friday.

It was still a historic night for the Panthers, who claimed their first trip to state dual championships in Frank-lin. Bartlett reached the regional finals

with a 42-28 semifinal win over Houston.

Seniors Cameron Tarver (182), Nathan Hale (220) and Mitch-ell Nguyen (120) got pins in the champion-ship match to help the

Dragons (21-5) to their second straight regional title. Tarver scored pins in both his matches — a 180-degree turnaround from a poor showing in last year’s re-gional event.

“They got all these pictures of me in tears,” he said. “Not this year. I worked all summer to get better, and stronger.”

Collierville senior heavyweight Tres Ring, who is one of just three area wres-tlers in the latest state individual rank-ings on tnyouthwrestling.com, got a pin in the first match and won by forfeit in the championship round.

“You want to get through this quick as possible, because you know next week is going to be very tough,” said the sixth-ranked Ring, who is hoping for an ap-pointment to the Naval Academy. “But we’ve done the work in the weight room this past year, and it’s showed.”

The draw had the match starting with the 170-pound class — going right into the teeth of the Dragons’ strength. Col-lierville won the first five matches, in-cluding the pins by Tarver and Hale for a 29-0 lead. Collierville mathematically sewed up the match with a decision by Matthew Richardson (145) and forfeited the final two matches.

“Our seniors stepped up tonight, and we’re hoping we can show ourselves well in the state competitions,” said Collier-ville coach Tom Graham as the Dragons prepare for their ninth state duals ap-pearance.

Senior Alex Carroll (113) got the Panthers on the board with the first of Bartlett’s two pins on the night.

“I wanted to go out with a bang,” Carroll said. “And now we’re in the his-tory books. I’ve been saying since July I thought this team could get to state.”

David Thomas (126) also got a pin for the Panthers, while Kris Bledsoe (138) got a technical pin with an 18-3 deci-

PREP WRESTLING

Bound for stateCollierville takes region title with win over Bartlett

VALENTINE PHOTOS Send a photo of you and your spouse to kumpe@commercialappeal.com for publication in our Feb. 13 Weekly editions. Include your names, how long you’ve been married and what town you live in.

By Beth RooksSpecial to The Weekly

During a recent episode of “American Idol,” Briarcrest alumna Anna Melvin got her big break when she auditioned on the popular singing competition.

She was awarded a golden ticket to move on to Hollywood and will compete for a spot on the show. Melvin, a senior at the University of Memphis, is in her fifth year with Sound Fuzion, a dynamic band at U of M.

It wasn’t until she was singing at the Memphis Mid-South Fair several years ago that Melvin dis-covered her love of performing.

The last several years, Mel-vin has honed her skills on any stage she could. She has starred in several musicals at Briarcrest, performed at fairs, rodeos, pro-fessional baseball games, the National Women’s Republican luncheon and was honored to open for country music legend Earl Thomas Conley.

Three years ago, Melvin was a semifinalist for “The Voice” and made it to the Hollywood round last year as a semifinalist for “American Idol.” Melvin plans to move to Nashville after gradu-ation to pursue a career in music.

Beth Rooks is the director of communica-tions with Briarcrest.

ACHIEVEMENT

Briarcrest alumna advances on ‘Idol’ Melvin earns golden ticket to Hollywood

GERMANTOWN WEEKLY I THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 MG HH

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Inside the Edition

LITTLE WHITE LIESSmall deceits, hidden vices of parenting a time-honored tradition born out of love. FAMILY, 9

SPELLING BEE BUZZThe Commercial Appeal congratulates local spellers for advancing to the Memphis-Shelby County Spelling Bee on Saturday. SCHOOLS, 7

ERIC GLEMSER/SPECIAL TO THE WEEKLY

In the closest match of the region finals, Collierville’s Joe Falls edges Bartlett’s Nicholas Wil-son, 6-4, in the 195-pound division. Both teams advance to the state duals tournament.

STATE TOURNAMENT DETAILSWhere: Williamson County Agricultural Expo Arena in Franklin, Tenn.When: Friday and SaturdayFirst-round matchups: Division 1, Collierville vs. Brentwood, Bartlett vs. Knoxville Halls. Division 2, CBHS vs. McCallie, SBA vs. MBA and BCS vs. Baylor.

INSIDEMore photos from Friday’s region wrestling tournament. 8

Anna Melvin, a Briarcrest alumna, received a golden ticket at her recent “American Idol” audition.

Special to The Weekly

Evangelical Christian School’s Middle School production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid JR.” will run Thursday and Friday.

A one-act retelling of the popular Broadway musical “The Little Mer-maid,” the show casts 34 children and 10 high schoolers on the back-stage crew.

Middle school princi-pal Chuck Smith stars as King Triton. Colorful cos-tumes, familiar tunes and a giant mobile costume for antagonist Ursula will de-light adults and children of all ages.

Starring as Ariel is eighth-grader Amelia Beckham of Germantown.

Beckham recently played as teen Fiona in New Day Children’s Theatre’s pro-duction of “Shrek the Mu-sical”.

Awarded first chair in the 2013 All West Junior

Choir, Beckham said, “I have enjoyed being in shows throughout the community, but it’s extra special to perform with my best friends. I’m excited to be playing a Disney prin-

cess in such a classic fairy tale.”

General admission tick-ets for ECS’s middle school production of “Little Mer-maid JR.” are available at the door before the 7 p.m. showings.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students.

The exceptional talent in performing arts is an important factor in the planned expansion of the school’s fine arts depart-ment. The renovation, commencing this spring, will include soundproof practice rooms for theater arts and instrumental/vo-cal music.

The visual arts suite will be overhauled with a new area dedicated to ceramics and an updated drawing space.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

‘Little Mermaid JR’ to make a splash at ECS

See WRESTLE, 2

Ellie Kate Forrester stars as “Ursula” in ECS’ production of “The Little Mermaid JR.” on Thursday and Friday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students. SUCCESS STORY

Feeling great in her 50s, Terry Balton is into fitness for the long haul. GOOD HEALTH, 10

GOLDSWORTHY WILL NOT RUN FOR MAYOR

Five-term Germantown mayor announces she will not seek re-election in November, thanks friends for support.

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