GREENSBORO — Fayetteville Jack Britt won its first state 4-A wrestling tournament title ever as the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state wrestling championships at the Greensboro Coliseum concluded Saturday night after two grueling days of competition,

           The tournament had originally been scheduled to run three days but was condensed into two due to inclement weather that had hit across the state.

            Britt, which two weeks earlier had won the 4-A dual team championship, built a solid lead in the team standings on Friday and went to record 152.5 points, with Northwest Guilford in second with 124.5. Britt had six wrestlers in the semifinals and then four in the championship finals in weight classes of 145 or below, with Bradley Wanovich at 113 pounds and Richard Tolston at 126 taking state titles. Tolston earned his third individual state championship.

            This was the first individual state tournament title for Britt wrestling coach John DeWeese, but he was an assistant under David Culbreth when Fayetteville 71st won the individual tournament in 1998 and 1999 and the dual team titles in 1999 and 2000.

            In third place was Southeast Guilford with 79.5, followed by Holly Springs (72.5) and Cornelius Hough (70).

            Cary had a pair of individual champs in Will Clark at 138 and Kollin Wade at 145, with Wade earning 4-A Most Outstanding Wrestler honors. A total of 79 schools were represented in the 4-A tournament.

            The 3-A race was tightly bunched throughout the competition, with a total of 76 3-A schools represented in the championships, and when it was over Eden Morehead took the title for the second consecutive year. Morehead tallied 98.5 points to 75 for runner-up Swansboro.

            Newton Fred T. Foard was third with 71, with Cameron Union Pines fourth at 63 and Enka fifth with 62 points.

            Asheboro had two individual state champs, Sawyer Davidson at 145 and Nicholas Coe at 285.  Eastern Guilford’s Willie Bivens completed a perfect 44-0 season with a win in the finals at 182 pounds

          .Jacksonville’s 120-pound champion Blaine Mainz was the Most Outstanding Wrestler in 3-A.

           In 2-A action, Newton-Conover led the standings after the first day, but the depth of Gastonia Hunter Huss prevailed, lifting the Huskies to the title. Charles McCombs at 126 was a state champ for Huss.

          Huss scored 115 team points to 95.5 for Newton-Conover, followed by West Lincoln (61), Newport Croatan (57) and West Wilkes (53.5).There were 69 schools with wrestlers in the 2-A competition.

            Jacob Houck of West Caldwell won the 132-pound title and finished 58-0, while West Lincoln’s Mack George completed a 52-0 campaign with a win in the 195 title bout. Dalton Clark of Providence Grove at 152 pounds, who finished 53-1 overall, was the classification Most Outstanding Wrestler.

            Mitchell, which has won the last two 1-A dual team titles, earned its first tournament crown since 1990 with a solid margin over runner-up Mount Airy. Mitchell tallied 121 points to 90 for Mount Airy, with Rosewood finishing third with 75.  Rosman (55) was fourth and Chatham Central (49), the defending tournament champion, placed fifth.

            Mitchell was led with state championship performances by Kyler Hoilman in the 120-pound class, Levi Richardson at 126 and Dalton Beaver at 145.  Mount Airy also had three individual champions, including Jacob Hogue (113), Triston Mabry (152) and Cameron Pack (170).

            Malachi Beaver of Murphy, the 182-pound champ, was the 1-A Most Outstanding Wrestler. There are 38 schools with wrestlers competing in the 1-A classification in Greensboro.