RALEIGH — The fledgling wrestling program at Panther Creek took another step forward this weekend after finishing tied for seventh at the 37th WRAL Invitational Tournament this weekend at Athens Drive High School.

Thirty-four teams participated in the two-day event on Friday and Saturday, featuring not only top talent from North Carolina but three other states as well.

The Catamounts placed four wrestlers, the highest being Sheridan Rucker — who came in third at 189 pounds. Rucker won by fall at 2:05 over Durham Riverside’s Darius Carrington.

“I’m very happy. This is my third year here and I was not expecting this. It’s shocking to me,” Rucker said. “I give [Carrington] his props, he has really good upper-body strength. But after that I just kind of flowed with it and took him down.”

Also competing in the finals for Panther Creek were Joe Morrison (130), Alex Branoff (140) and Jamey Drennen (171).

“I’m very pleased with how we did as a team. We only brought 10 wrestlers,” coach Jon Armfield said. “We really didn’t have any expectations because this is our first year here.”

Morrison, a sophomore, narrowly missed a third-place finish himself after losing 3-2 in the consolation match against Chris Rivas from Winston-Salem Parkland.

Branoff, Panther Creek’s senior captain, took fourth place after defeating Fayetteville Byrd’s Kristoff Thomas 11-4, and Drennen, a junior, finished sixth after being pinned at 0:55 by Charlotte Mallard Creek’s Tyrell Walker.

With this year’s finish, the Catamounts will receive an automatic bid to next year’s tournament.

The top-10 finish has also brought something else to the Catamounts — confidence about the rest of the season.

“This is going to be our best year so far,” Rucker said.

Also competing in the tournament were Apex, which came in 32nd with just 16 team points, and host Athens Drive.

Athens finished 18th with 73.5 points and had one placer, Cliff Griffin, who came in fourth at 140-pounds. For the third straight year, Parkland claimed the WRAL Invitational championship, amassing 237.5 team points in the two-day event.

Riverside, the only team to beat Panther Creek in a duals meet so far this year, came in fifth and also boasted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler in junior Tyrone Eatmon (125).

Enka High from Candler was given the sportsmanship award as voted on by participating coaches.