CHAMPIONSHIPS DECIDED IN NCHSAA WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
GREENSBORO — After almost 1,300 matches and three grueling days of competition, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state wrestling championships at the Greensboro Coliseum wrapped up Saturday night with the championship matches in all four classifications.
Individual weight class champions in 56 different divisions across the four classifications were crowned.
Winston-Salem Parkland won its seventh state tournament team title in two different classifications in the last eight years, and its third in the last four years at the 4-A level. Parkland and Fayetteville Jack Britt were one-two, just as they had been two weeks ago in the dual team championships.
Parkland scored 133 points to 112 for Britt, followed by Lake Norman (82) , Cornelius W.A. Hough (75.5) and defending champ Southern Pines Pinecrest (75). A total of 73 schools were represented in the 4-A tournament.
Two Parkland wrestlers were in the finals, Jeremy Ward at 132 and Marcus Cross at 145, but did not win. Cross lost to Jake DeAngelo of Southern Alamance 3-2 in the 145 final as DeAngelo finished unbeaten in 52 matches.
Nick Kee of Scotland County was the champion in the 170-pound class for the second straight year and finished the season an amazing 61-0 to earn Most Outstanding Wrestler honors.
Orange rolled to its second consecutive 3-A tournament championship by virtue of having nine wrestlers remaining in Saturday’s action, including four in the championship finals, twice as many as any other school, although none of them earned individual state crowns. The Panthers, under veteran coach Bob Shriner, collected 106.5 points to 98 for second-place Concord Jay Robinson.
North Gaston was third with 86.5 points, followed by Hickory St. Stephens (78) and Cameron Union Pines (65). There were 81 3-A schools with wrestlers in the tournament.
Enka’s Kacee Hutchinson, the 195-pound champion, was voted the 3-A Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Newport Croatan captured the 2-A team title for the third time in four years with a total of 120.5 points, with Newton-Conover the runner-up at 100. The Red Devils defeated Croatan by a single point in the 2-A dual team championships two weeks ago.
Defending tournament champion Trinity, which had the most wrestlers of any 2-A school in the championship finals with three, was tied for third with Monroe Piedmont at 83 points, followed by North Surry and Hampstead Topsail knotted at 69 in fifth. A total of 66 schools competed in the 2-A tournament.
One of the outstanding 2-A finals occurred at 146 pounds, as Chase senior Josh Stephens completed a perfect 52-0 season by outpointing Ashe County’s Michael Elliott (46-2) 10-8.
West Lincoln’s Clay Alguire, the 138-pound champion, was the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the 2-A event.
In the 1-A classification, three schools entered the championship round within three team points of one another: North Rowan, Ayden-Grifton and West Wilkes, although Ayden-Grifton had one more wrestler in the championship round than the other two. When it was over, North Rowan rallied to win it with 88.5 points, a three-point margin over defending champ West Wilkes. Ayden-Grifton was third with 74, followed by Robbinsville (70.5) and Hendersonville (59). A total of 35 schools qualified wrestlers to the 1-A tournament.
North Rowan earned the team title by virtue of individual state championships by Marc Gonzalez at 113, Damon Ellis at 120 and William Robertson at 285.
Jorge Lima of West Wilkes, the champ at 145 pounds, was named the 1-A Most Outstanding Wrestler. Rosewood’s Nick Quillen won his 126-pound final with a pin in the first 30 seconds to finish the season with a record of 59-1.
The 2-A, 3-A and 4-A competitors began wrestling on Thursday night, with the 1-A class starting on Friday afternoon since it had fewer wrestlers in the field.
This was the fourth consecutive year the event has been held at the Greensboro Coliseum. The host city sponsors for the wrestling championships included the Greensboro Sports Commission, the Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Greensboro Sports Council. The NCHSAA has been offering a wrestling championship since the 1930’s.