Leitten brings home another wrestling title for Fort Mill

It was roughly 1:30 p.m. and Fort Mill High’s A.J. Leitten was asked if he was ready for his state final wrestling match scheduled for a couple hours later. He answered without hesitation.

“I’m ready to wrestle,” he said.

The junior clinched his second consecutive state title about three hours later after tearing through Dorman’s Nick Caspio 11-1. The second title put Leitten in elite company, as he became only the sixth Fort Mill High wrestler to win multiple titles and just the fifth to win back-to-back titles in school history.

It was the Jackets’ 12th consecutive year of bringing home a state champion.

“He doesn’t open up much, so I had to get him going,” Leitten said. “I rode him tough. It was the best match I wrestled all year. There wasn’t one point in that match that I thought I might lose.”

Leitten said he will enjoy this win for about a week before it’s time to prepare for the Junior Nationals in early April. He said he is already thinking about an unprecedented third state title.

As a whole, three of the six Fort Mill wrestlers placed at the state tournament.

“Generally speaking, we haven’t had a great tournament compared to years past,” said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock. “But things aren’t always going to turn out the way we hoped.”

Brock said he didn’t worry about Leitten’s chances at claiming a second state championship.

“He was much better than that kid,” he said.

Fort Mill did bring home a third place finisher in senior John Brotemarkle, who beat Mauldin’s Thomas Druckenmiller 3-2 in the 113-pound consolation finals. Brotemarkle will finish his career at Fort Mill this weekend, participating in the North/South All-Star Classic at North Myrtle Beach. Teammate Jack Debbout will also compete in the Classic.

Steven Hamilton finished fourth for the Jackets at 145 pounds after falling to Dorman’s Shanard Bain.

Nation Ford’s Dalen Byerley came close to a second state title, but lost 7-2 to Westwood’s Evan Carrigan in the finals at 132 pounds. Byerley, who missed the first three months of the year coming back from shoulder surgery, gave Carrigan credit for the win.

“I wrestled hard,” he said. “Then in the second period, I was gassed. He really pushed me.”

Byerley also is competing in the North/South All-Star Classic.

The Falcons sent three wrestlers to the tournament. Junior Jeremy Kishbaugh rebounded from an early loss to Goose Creek’s Tito Colon to eventually force a rematch in the consolation finals at 106 pounds and pinned him in the first period to finish third in the state.

Jake Gravely of Nation Ford also competed at State, but didn’t place.

Nation Ford head coach Leon Boulware said he was proud of his team’s effort.

“We had a good tournament,” he said. “Guys did what they were supposed to do.”

Three Warriors place

In the 2A tournament, Indian Land brought four wrestlers with three placing. The Warriors had two third place finishers in Kyle Daley at 132 pounds and Will Van Hoose at 195.

Daley beat Marion’s Troy Vick-Timmons 8-3 and Van Hoose beat Liberty’s Breck Dismukes to take third place. Indian Land also had a fourth place finisher in Tomas Seamon.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Leitten brings home another wrestling title for Fort Mill."