PARKLAND WINS FIFTH CONSECUTIVE TITLE IN NCHSAA STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS;
FRED T. FOARD, CROATAN, WEST WILKES ALSO TAKE TEAM CROWNS
GREENSBORO— With dominance in the lower weights and strong balance overall, Winston-Salem Parkland earned its fifth consecutive state team title in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state wrestling championships Saturday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Parkland, the defending 4-A champ after winning three state tournament titles at the 3-A level, scored 145 points to 109 for runner-up Lake Norman. Davie County was third with 84 points, followed by Southern Alamance (75.5) and Mooresville (56).
Four Parkland wrestlers competed for state titles in weight classes of 130 pounds or under and three won state titles. Drew Turner at 103 pounds, Antwan Davis at 119 and Jovantae Coleman at 130 all won individual state championships for Parkland.
Davie had a pair of individual champs, Michael Waters at 125 pounds and Matt Cusack at 171. Southern Alamance teammates Joey Moon at 135 and Tony DeAngelo at 140 also won state crowns, with DeAngelo winning the Most Outstanding Wrestler award in the 4-A championships.
A total of 69 4-A schools, out of the 78 which sent qualifiers to the event, scored points in the championships.
The closest team race throughout the tournament was in the 3-A classification, with four schools entering the championship session within 10 points of one another and with 2011 dual team champion Orange qualifying the most to the final matches with three.
When it was all over, though, two Catawba County teams were among the top three, with Fred T. Foard scoring 90 points and nipping Cameron Union Pines by two, with Hickory St. Stephens third with 85. Orange was fourth at 84.5 and Havelock fifth with 75.There were 74 schools represented in the 3-A event, with 68 scoring.
Havelock and Concord Jay Robinson each had a pair of individual champs, with Havelock’s Jake Smith winning at 103 and Zachary Jaramillo at 130, while Robinson grapplers Garrison White took the 125 title and Davante Andujar captured the 140 crown.
Jaramillo was chosen the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the 3-A event.
In 2-A action, Newport Croatan opened up a lead over the field after the first day of competition and held on to win the team crown. Croatan, the defending tourney champ and also winner of the dual team championship earlier in the month, tallied 136 team points, led by 145-pound individual champion Sam McCauley.
Trinity was second with 101 points, followed by Monroe Piedmont (100.5), Hampstead Topsail (82) and Newton-Conover (79). A total of 63 of the 75 2-A schools represented tallied team points.
Jake Johnson (160) and Jesse Johnson (171) both earned state crowns for Central Davidson, while Monroe also had a pair of champs in Alex Turner (135) and Parker VonEgidy (152).
Trinity Wheatmore’s 189-pound champion Jesse Doyle was the 2-A Most Outstanding Wrestler.
The 1-A classification, with only eight wrestlers qualifying per weight class, did not begin competition until Friday evening with the quarterfinals. West Wilkes, the defending tournament champs, rolled to victory in the team standings and had five wrestlers compete for state titles.
Jorge Lima at 103 and J.J. LaPlante at 125 were the West Wilkes individual weight class champs.
West scored 110.5 team points to 78 for Kernersville Bishop McGuinness. Following in the standings were West Montgomery (56), Monroe Central Academy (53) and Rosewood (50.5).
A total of 37 1-A schools qualified wrestlers to the tournament and 31 accrued team points.
Joey Beaver of Murphy, the 160-pound champ, was the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the 1-A tournament.
This is the 24th year that the wrestling championships have been “classified”; prior to 1987, all wrestlers, regardless of the size of the school, competed for a single title. Wendy’s is the presenting sponsor for the NCHSAA sports program. The host city sponsors for the wrestling championships include the Greensboro Sports Commission, the Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Greensboro Sports Council.
Complete text versions of all results for all classifications are posted. They are found by clicking on the Championship Results link on the right side of the front page and then going to Wrestling.
