High school wrestling: West Rowan claims sixth straight county title

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 19, 2023

By Dave Shaw

By David Shaw

GRANITE QUARRY — West Rowan’s wrestling program spent another Saturday chasing history.

The boys team crowned 10 weight class champions, totaled 308.5 team points and easily claimed its sixth straight Rowan County Tournament title — matching South Rowan’s mark for consecutive championships set from 1990-95. Carson (163) placed a distant second, followed by host East Rowan (156), South (128), Salisbury (64) and North Rowan (46). West freshman Lane Jenkins (106 pounds) was selected Most Outstanding Wrestler.

“We’re still rolling kind of about the same,” said Falcons’ boys coach John Brown. “I have the same expectations as we did last year, when we fell just a hair short to Fred T. Foard, the eventual (dual meet) state champion. When you get to that level, you start wrestling good teams. We could be that way again this year, or if we have a bad night, we could not be that way. But this was an important step for us.”

On an adjacent mat, West had five champions and collected 147 points to win the inaugural girls tournament crown. This is the first season girls wrestling is a sanctioned NCHSAA sport. East finished second with 108 points, while North (49), Salisbury (45) and Carson (10) rounded out the field. South did not enter a girls team. A total of 31 girls participated, up from 10 last year, when it was still considered an exhibition sport in North Carolina. East junior Jasmyne Brown (107) was named girls MOW.

“This girls side keeps improving and rock-and-rolling,” said West girls coach Tim Pangburn, a 2010 WRHS graduate and former all-state offensive tackle. “I’m excited to see a lot of these girls working to get better. East Rowan has done a really good job getting girls to come out. North Rowan almost had a full lineup. It’s really been fun watching it grow.”

• • •

West’s boys team was dominant from the start. The Falcons looked every bit like the squad that’s already gone 10-0 in duals and is currently ranked second in the 3A state poll behind Union Pines.

“I feel pretty good about this team,” West senior Hunter Miller said after winning semifinal and final-round matches at 215 to boost his season record to 16-4. “I’m sure we’ll continue to do well. Technically, we’re second in the state but we all believe we should be first.”

Miller pinned freshman teammate Marcus Bailey in 30 seconds to earn his third RCT championship. “I put him in a half (Nelson) right after I did a snap-down,” he offered. “It’s a takedown but basically, you just take two hands throw him to the floor.”

Other final-round pins were recorded by West’s Andrew Taylor (132), Kevin O’Brien (138), Mason Kincaid (175), Dakota Athey (190) and Greyson Burleson (285). Teammate Stetson Collins (144) mounted a 15-0, third-period lead and won by technical fall over Salisbury junior Naim Bethea.

“You’ve got to go through this. It’s the first step if we’re gonna go far,” said Collins, a once-beaten junior who prevailed in three matches and won his third county tournament ribbon. “My last match was a good one for me. I rode the top very well and rode his legs very well. That’s really all I did.”

Other weight class champions for West included Mark Truman (126), Lane Jenkins and his older brother Eli (165), a sophomore who won an intense 10-9 final-round decision over Carson’s Elijah Morgan. Truman won a 10-0 major decision against East’s Alex Luna. Lane Jenkins prevailed 8-7 over East’s Christopher McDonald, a 17-match winner this season.

“I was up 6-3 at one point,” Jenkins said after the 106 final. “Then it got close with 27 seconds left, when he cut me — he let me go — because he didn’t think I had another takedown in me. But sure enough, I did.”

Non-West Rowan champions included South’s Garrison Raper at 113 and teammate Mateo Diaz (120), a three-time title-winner who worked assiduously to level West’s Jathon Roby in 5:56. “He was pretty strong,” Diaz said of Roby. “I had to be patient and wait for him to get tired. Then it was just doing my thing, getting points for the team.”

East senior Shayden Edwards (150) and Salisbury’s Tyree Brown (157) also prevailed. Edwards improved to 18-1 after flattening Carson’s Griffin Barber in 1:09. Brown, a rugged senior, picked up a 6-4 final-round decision over West’s Connor Misenheimer.

“Very happy with the boys,” said West coach Brown. “They wrestled good. We always look forward to the county (championship). Everyone likes to be a county champion.”

• • •

May we please have a drumroll and spotlight for Olivia Collins?

The West Rowan senior officially became the first female wrestler to capture an RCT championship when she made short work of North’s Preston Pratt, winning by fall in 21 seconds in the 100-pound final.

“When I think about it, we’ve had so much help getting this thing off the ground,” said Pangburn, who has steered the Falcons to victories in each of their eight dual meets. “Olivia won, so she’s first. Her brother won today. The Hadley Perry girl, her brothers wrestled for us. So there’s been a lot of people, a lot of hands helping out to get to this point. It’s only going to get bigger and better.”

West’s Jisel Suarez — a varsity cheerleader — cleared the room at 132 and earned a first-place ribbon when she pinned East’s Kortlyn Aplin in 52 seconds. The Falcons had three other finalists win by default: unbeaten freshman Waylon Collins (11-0 at 126), senior Brooke Cribbs (11-2 at 145) and freshman Brook Zino (7-2 at 152).

East placed five girls in the finals and emerged with five champions — MOW Brown (now 12-2), junior Leah Edwards (114), freshman Lexus Wagoner (138), freshman Marlianna Polito (185) and freshman Kalena Faavesi (235). Brown, Edwards, Polito and Faavesi (now 14-3) used final-round pins to prevail and Wagoner won by default.

“I figured I had the toughest weight class,” said Brown, who stopped West’s Perry in 5:06. “Maybe that’s why I got this award. I was so glad when they called my name.”

Edwards, the trailblazing wrestler who has forged a path for many to follow, pinned North’s Crystal Johnson in 21 seconds in her only match of the tournament. “I’ve been sleeping all day in the bleachers,” she said after improving to 8-0 this season. “Because I knew I only had one match to wrestle. And then I got confused, because I had no hands on (Johnson) and still got the pin.”

Other winners included Salisbury’s Dashia Canada (120) and Devonna Steele (165). Canada, who also placed first in last December’s non-sanctioned event, pinned West’s Katie O’Brien in 1:18. Steele won by default.

“I love the fact that it’s our sport now,” said Canada, a junior with a 7-2 record. “We don’t have to share with the boys anymore. It’s great that more and more girls are coming out for wrestling, trying something new and making all this history.”

“I remember in sixth grade there were no girls wrestling,” added East’s Brown, clutching her well-deserved award. “This year we’ve got our own tournament, our own brackets and a shot at state history. It’s all pretty cool.”

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