Five wrestlers come home with state titles

The tri-county area of York, Lancaster and Chester counties placed a dozen wrestlers into the state finals of their respective weight classes at the 2017 state wrestling championships with several coming home with state titles.

Wrestlers from Rock Hill, Fort Mill, South Pointe and Indian Land high schools all brought home state titles, with the Warriors bringing home the most hardware crowning two state champions.

Indian Land brought home state titles at 106 pounds with Austin Ross winning 6-2 over Mid-Carolina’s Toby Bishop. The Warriors also won a state title at 126 pounds in a 6-5 decision with Chad Milasauskas beating West Oak’s Jared Smith.

It was head coach Leon Boulware’s first year at the school, coming from Nation Ford. He said he isn’t surprised at the early success the team despite the first year transition in the program.

“They have worked their butts off,” Boulware said. “Plus it’s a wrestling school. They have a good tradition.”

Fort Mill crowned three-time state champion AJ Leitten at 138 pounds. He didn’t give up a point in the entire tournament, as he beat Irmo’s Marcus Johnson 16-0 in the second period on a tech fall. Leitten, who is going to wrestle at NC State next year, finished his prep career on a 110-match winning streak and with a career record of 174-6. He becomes the school’s first three-time state wrestling champion and also won most outstanding wrestler at the 5A classification of the tournament.

In the first period of Leitten’s match, he stepped funny and may have broke his big toe on his right foot. He still was able to finish the match without giving up a point, but his big toe was splinted after the match.

“It just snapped,” Leitten said. “I felt it right away.”

Rock Hill sent three wrestlers to the finals and came away with one champion in Bailey Wilkins, who won at 126 pounds in a 1-0 decision over Byrnes’ Addison Christopher.

South Pointe also had a state champion in Rodrick Whitlock, who won with a pin in the first period beating Travelers Rest’s Ben Dodd rather easily at 145 pounds at the 4A level.

5A

Rock Hill also had two third-place finishers in Justin Beck at 120 pounds and Jose Mora at 106 pounds. Rock Hill had two second-place finishers in Jared Blake at 132 pounds and Noah Reynolds at 170 pounds.

Fort Mill wrestler Jake Hart finished second at 145 pounds falling to River Bluff’s Ben Emery. Fort Mill had a fourth-place finisher in Brody Claassen at 126 pounds.

Northwestern brought just two wrestlers to the tournament, with each of them making the finals, but both came home empty handed. The Trojans’ Mison Mickle finished second at 160 pound, and Jerry Howard finished second at 220 pounds.

Clover and Nation Ford had wrestlers just miss out on the finals. However, the Falcons only tournament wrestler -- Jake Gravely -- came back Saturday to win two matches and finish third at 182 pounds.

“He is a guy who has been consistently there for us all year,” said Nation Ford head coach Dan Snell. “He isn’t flashy, but he works hard.”

Clover had a fourth-place finisher in Luke Brown at 120 pounds, who lost 8-4 in the consolation finals to Rock Hill’s Beck.

4A

South Pointe was the only local 4A school with any finalist sending two to the final match. The Stallions also had four in the consolation round to start day two of the tournament, as did York, who started the second day with four wrestlers in the consolation bracket.

South Pointe had one second-place finisher in Nathan Stroud at 152 pounds. None of the Stallion wrestlers in the consolation rounds placed in the top four, while York had a third-place finisher at 106 pounds in Daiyan Heard and a fourth-place finisher in Jaren Myrup at 132 pounds.

3A

Indian Land and Chester had two wrestlers go head-to- head in the consolation finals at 145 pounds, which saw the Warriors’ Kyle Daley pin Chester’s Terrence Mills in the third period despite trailing 8-4. The Warriors also had a third-place finisher at 152 pounds in Wesley Johnson.

Chester got one wrestler in the finals at heavyweight in Xi Simpson, but he fell to West Oak’s Gavin James 2-1 in overtime.

This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Five wrestlers come home with state titles."