Fort Mill and Nation Ford send 13 finalists combined to Region wrestling tournament

The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets crowned five Region IV champions after last week’s tournament.

Both Fort Mill and Rock Hill high schools sent nine potential champion wrestlers to the finals of their respective weight classes at the region tournament. The Bearcats came away with seven region champions. The only other school with wrestlers who won their weight class were Northwestern with two – Kadarius Davis (152) and Jerry Howard (220).

Nation Ford High sent four to the finals while Clover had three finalists and they all finished in second place.

Fort Mill senior AJ Leitten was voted Region IV Wrestler of the Year and Jackets head coach Chris Brock Coach of the Year after the tournament.

Yellow Jackets who won region titles were Jacob Sturgeon (113), Leitten (138), Jake Hart (145), Jordan Markowski (160) and Wade Brock (195). Finishing second in their weight class for Fort Mill were Jackson Strong (106), Brody Claassen (126), Caden Haverson (170) and Jack Kelley (220). Finishing in third place were Zach Hornbrook (120), Adam Biehl (132), Malik Campbell (152) and Jaquan Johnson (Hwt). Greg Vernon finished fourth at 182.

For Nation Ford, the bright spot was Jeremy Kishbaugh’s win in the semifinals at 120 pounds. His win gave him the all-time school wins record with 131. Kishbaugh made it to the finals, but fell to Rock Hill’s Justin Beck. Joshua Paxtor (132), Jake Gravely (182), and Jason Nunoo (195) all finished as the runner-up in their weight class.

The Falcons had three third-place finishers: Dax Stegall (106), Raymond Gonzales (113), Dylan Tindall (126) and Austen Schaufert (220). Sean Grennan finished fourth for the Falcons at heavyweight.

Fort Mill will enter the first round of the playoffs Feb. 4 at home, while Nation Ford, according to their head coach Dan Snell, just missed the playoffs and the Falcons will turn their attention to preparing for the individual Upper State wrestling tournament Feb. 17-18 at Laurens High School.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Fort Mill and Nation Ford send 13 finalists combined to Region wrestling tournament."