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, which placed four wrestlers into the 4-A championship round, was seeking its sixth straight state tournament team title in two different classifications and third straight 4-A title. But the wild 4-A race went right down to the end and Southern Pines Pinecrest slipped past Parkland with 100.5 points to win the team title. Southern Alamance was second with 95.5 points and Parkland in third with 94.
Pinecrest had rallied to enter the championship round in the team lead with 94.5 points to 86 for Parkland, and had two wrestlers in the finals. Dustin Roemer of Pinecrest won the 152 title.
Parkland had Phazon Roddy at 106 pounds and Drew Turner at 113 win state championships, while Southern Alamance had three state champs, including Tony DeAngelo (138), Joey Moon (145) and Cody Boswell (160).
Nick Kee of Scotland County, the champion in the 170-pound class, was selected as the 4-A Most Outstanding Wrestler. A total of 77 schools were represented in the 4-A tournament.
Orange rolled to the 3-A championship by virtue of having nine wrestlers remaining in Saturday’s action, although only one was in the championship finals, Zach Rimmer at 145 pounds. Rimmer beat Alexander Knight of Rocky Mount 6-1 in the championship.
The Panthers, who won the dual team tournament earlier this month, topped the standings with 115 points. Cameron Union Pines was second with 75, followed by Northeast Guilford (67) and Concord Jay Robinson (66.5). Northeast Guilford had three wrestlers in the finals but none of them won titles.
There were 83 3-A schools with wrestlers in the tournament.
Garrison White of J.M. Robinson, the 126-pound champion, was voted the 3-A Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Trinity built up a substantial lead among the 2-A schools and held off second-place Newport Croatan, the defending tournament champion. Trinity had four wrestlers in the championships while Croatan had three, the most of any of the schools in the classification.
Trinity won it with 122 points, with Billy Simmons winning the 132 title and Cameron King taking top honors at 195. Croatan was second with 99 points, followed by North Surry (92), Monroe Piedmont (86.5) and Newton-Conover (80). A total of 69 schools competed in the 2-A tournament.
Piedmont’s Parker VonEgidy, the 170-pound champion, was the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the 2-A event.
In the 1-A classification, defending champion West Wilkes led the way and rolled to the championship, with four of its wrestlers competing in the finals. Jorge Lima at 126, J.J. LaPlante at 132 and Devin Fussell at 138 all earned state crowns for West Wilkes.
LaPlante was named the 1-A Most Outstanding Wrestler.
West Wilkes tallied 97.5 points to 73 for second-place North Rowan, followed by Central Academy (67) and Robbinsville (58.5). A total of 37 schools qualified wrestlers to the 1-A tournament.
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 third 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.
