rss
mobile
Feeds
The wrestlers used it as a measuring stick of sorts, as a way to gauge where they needed to be if they intended to reach the ultimate goal of competing for an individual or team state championship.
As it turned out, there was no better place to find an accurate reading.
Beaufort County will send 24 wrestlers to this weekend's S.C. High School League Wresting Individual Championships at Rock Hill High School. The tournaments get under way tonight and concludes with championship rounds Saturday.
Region 8-AAA will account for 20 of those 24, with Bluffton sending nine, Hilton Head High six and Battery Creek five to the Class 3-A meet. Beaufort High School qualified four for the Class 4-A meet.
"We're the flagship of the Lower State right now," Battery Creek coach Chad Cox said of the county. "It's getting stronger every year collectively. And we all have young kids coming back. ... Our youth and middle school programs have made the big difference."
Each of the four schools has seen the profit from the feeder programs, especially this season.
Consider this:
• Bluffton's nine state qualifiers is a school record. The Bobcats will be sending nearly two-thirds of their lineup to state in just the program's sixth year. Six of the nine made it to the finals of last week's Lower State championships, with three winning their brackets: Tyler Rosenlieb, Lincoln Joly and freshman Austin Farmer. Rosenlieb is attempting to repeat as an individual state champion, although he's dropped from 160 to 152 pounds.
• Hilton Head High is coming off its third straight team Lower State championship. The Seahawks have a pair of wrestlers -- Jack Duane and David Beck -- ranked at the top of their respective weight classes. Both will also compete in the North/South All-Star event next weekend. Tonight, Duane will be begin his defense of the state title he earned last year at 189 pounds.
• Battery Creek earned five representatives this weekend, one year after graduating three-fourths of its starting lineup. Matt Heinrich and Luke Johnson each enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed from the Lower State in what was initially thought to be a rebuilding year for the Dolphins.
• All four of Beaufort High's state qualifiers are first-time qualifiers, meaning a lack of experience in those pressure matches hasn't shown its effects. Perhaps that's because the Eagles routinely wrestle some of the stiffest competition in the state, starting with their Beaufort County rivals.
And each school expects the trend to continue to grow.
"All of the coaches in this county go above and beyond. They do everything in their power and then some to make their programs as best as they can possibly be," Bobcats coach John Hollman said. " You can talk about it all day long, but all you have to do is open your eyes and see. The results speak for themselves."
The coaches are provided with an easy motivating tool from the get-go: before thinking about a state championship, you must first become the best in the county-wide rivalry.
In both of the past two seasons, one of the Beaufort County schools has hosted the Class 3-A Lower State championship -- against a fellow Beaufort County team.
"Especially these last two years, I've felt the top three teams in the (Class 3-A) Lower State are our county's schools," Seahawks coach Mike Newton said."You have no choice but to get better when you have tough competition that you have to beat to reach your goals. We knew we had to beat the teams in our backyard to even go to a state championship.
"And one of these years soon we're going to win one of them."
STORYLINES TO FOLLOW
• Hilton Head High's Jack Duane and Bluffton's Tyler Rosenlieb are trying to become two-time state champions. Each is the favorite to do exactly that. Duane is ranked No. 1 at 189 pounds -- the same weight class he won last year -- and Rosenlieb is ranked at the top of the 152-pound class after winning 160 a year ago. Rosenlieb is looking to add to his career win total, which is already the highest in Bluffton's six-year history.
• Matt Heinrich, the 145-pound senior from Battery Creek, is attempting to backup a guarantee he laid out in the Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet two weeks ago. "I'm going to win state," he said. "I want people to know that, plain and simple. I promise that." Heinrich sits at No. 2 behind West-Oak wrestler Joseph Winkler.
• This weekend provides the final chance for Hilton Head High's David Beck to climb to the top of the mountain. Beck finished second at 215 pounds in his sophomore and junior seasons but hasn't lost to a South Carolina wrestler at that weight class this year. He hopes to keep it that way.
• Kenan Jackson started his junior year at Beaufort High School with 23 straight wins before losing to two-time state champion Seiji Borja of Fort Dorchester. The good news -- Jackson won't have to see Borja in the tournament, as Jackson decided to move up from 152 to 160 for the individual state championships. He's ranked fourth there.
• A pair of freshmen from Beaufort County won the Lower State tournament a week ago and both have a legit shot at competing for a state championship: Bluffton's Austin Farmer (112) and Hilton Head High's Label Lewis (103). In total, more than half of the Beaufort County wrestlers participating this weekend (13 of 24) are underclassmen.
BATTERY CREEK
Wrestler: Chris Bockelman
Weight: 103
Record: 31-20
Lower State result: Second
3-A Ranking: 6
First-round matchup: Trevor Clinkscales, Belton-Honea Path
Wrestler: Matt Heinrich
Weight: 145
Record: 34-2
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 2
First-round matchup: Jonathan Gravley, Pickens
Wrestler: Luke Johnson
Weight: 171
Record: 38-2
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 5
First-round matchup: William Sutton, Belton-Honea Path
Wrestler: Bear Childers
Weight: 215
Record: 37-12
Lower State result: Third
3-A Ranking: 7
First-round matchup: Cullen Gallimore, Eastside
Wrestler: David Ratliff
Weight: 285
Record: 37-13
Lower State result: Third
3-A Ranking: 6
First-round matchup: Jalen Hunter, Seneca
BEAUFORT HIGH
Wrestler: Kenan Jackson
Weight: 160
Record: 39-3
Lower State result: Second
4-A Ranking: 4
First-round matchup: Hunter Allen, Spartanburg
Wrestler: Alex Amaya
Weight: 171
Record: 27-9
Lower State result: Fourth
4-A Ranking: 7
First-round matchup: Coleman Hellyer, Spartanburg
Wrestler: Maliek Maldonado
Weight: 189
Record: 26-9
Lower State result: Third
4-A Ranking: 7
First-round matchup: Hunter Smith, Laurens
Wrestler: Jerry Johnson
Weight: 215
Record: 34-9
Lower State result: Fourth
4-A Ranking: 4
First-round matchup: Desmond Foster, Dorman
BLUFFTON
Wrestler: Austin Farmer
Weight: 112
Record: 45-12
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 3
First-round matchup: Terence Gore, Chester
Wrestler: Lincoln Joly
Weight: 125
Record: 50-10
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 4
First-round matchup: Tony Murphy, Lugoff-Elgin
Wrestler: Josh Wetmore
Weight: 135
Record: 43-18
Lower State result: Fourth
3-A Ranking: 8
First-round matchup: Coleman Gary, Belton-Honea Path
Wrestler: Braden Putich
Weight: 140
Record: 42-16
Lower State result: Third
3-A Ranking: 7
First-round matchup: Alonzo Grant, Lugoff-Elgin
Wrestler: Tyler Rosenlieb
Weight: 152
Record: 51-2
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 1
First-round matchup: Will Myers, Lugoff-Elgin
Wrestler: Manuel Lopez
Weight: 160
Record: 36-20
Lower State result: Second
3-A Ranking: 6
First-round matchup: Hugo Fehrenbach, Riverside
Wrestler: Andrew Dean
Weight: 189
Record: 48-11
Lower State result: Second
3-A Ranking: 3
First-round matchup: Stephen Price, Travelers Rest
Wrestler: David Lopez
Weight: 215
Record: 50-10
Lower State result: Fourth
3-A Ranking: 8
First-round matchup: Davion Gambrell, Berea
Wrestler: Phillip Scott
Weight: 285
Record: 53-6
Lower State result: Second
3-A Ranking: 3
First-round matchup: Everett Griffin, Chester
HILTON HEAD HIGH
Wrestler: Label Lewis
Weight: 103
Record: 38-6
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 4
First-round matchup: Lewis Graham, Chester
Wrestler: Chris Ordonez
Weight: 130
Record: 31-20
Lower State result: Fourth
3-A Ranking: 6
First-round matchup: Nate Polly, Chapin
Wrestler: Seth Anthony
Weight: 135
Record: 38-16
Lower State result: Second
3-A Ranking: 6
First-round matchup: Gage Govero, Eastside
Wrestler: Nic Levy
Weight: 140
Record: 38-13
Lower State result: Second
3-A Ranking: 5
First-round matchup: James Allen, Wade Hampton
Wrestler: Jack Duane
Weight: 189
Record: 55-1
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 1
First-round matchup: Brett Weaver, Eastside
Wrestler: David Beck
Weight: 215
Record: 51-3
Lower State result: First
3-A Ranking: 1
First-round matchup: Tyrique Dixon, Chester
