May River wrestling earns second straight trip to state championship
The May River wrestling team is headed back to the state championship.
The Sharks defeated Hartsville. 50-29, on Wednesday in the Class 4A Lower State championship. May River will wrestle Eastside for the state championship at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Dreher High School in Columbia.
Eastside defeated Lugoff-Elgin, 47-24, in the 4A Upper State championship. It will be the second straight year May River and Eastside will wrestle in the championship match. Eastside won, 43-30, last year to win its 16th state championship since 2000.
“They are the absolute gold standard of wrestling in South Carolina,” May River coach Ashley Powell said at Thursday’s championship press conference. “The number of state championships and he wrestlers they put out each year in and year out is incredible. It is going to be a tough task.
“We are thankful to compete against a team of their quality. They are a solid from top to bottom. They are the measuring stick in South Carolina wrestling and where we want to go. But we are going to give it our best effort we got on Saturday. We are going to scrap, win matches, fight and see what happens.”
Match winners for May River on Wednesday were Gabe Juarez, Chris Snowden, Billy Hall, Jorge Valdez, Kaiden McCallum, Emilio Mendoza, Isaiah Wysong, EJ Seman, and Santiago Rueda.
The Sharks and Eastside are both 18-1 on the season. Eastside is ranked No. 1 in SCMat’s rankings while May River is No. 3. May River is one of the rising programs in the state since it opened in 2016. They have been to four straight state semifinals and two championship appearances since the school opened in 2016.
Powell reflected on the quick rise and how the program has been able to be successful in just a short period of time. He also pointed out the interest in wrestling which has trickled down to the youth programs around the area.
“I think when we started here, we had two kids to ever wrestle before,” he said. “I coached football as well so we having to practice at 6:30 at night. We have a phenomenal group of assistant coaches at May River that helped get this program in the right direction. I am lucky to be called the head coach.
“We are incredibly gracious for what we have up to this point. Our administration, our athletic director, principal has been nothing but supportive of us from day one. We are thankful to be able to what we have accomplished this far in six short years.”
Wrestling Playoff Schedule
Class 5A
Wednesday
Upper State
Hillcrest 50, Clover 18
Lower State
Ashley Ridge 34, Summerville 24
Class 4A
Wednesday
Upper State
Eastside 47, Lugoff-Elgin 24
Lower State
May River 50, Hartsville 29
Class 3A
Wednesday
Upper State
West-Oak 26, Belton-Honea Path 25
Lower State
Aynor 44, Gilbert 27
Class 2A
Wednesday
Upper State
Ninety Six def. Crescent
Lower State
Timberland 51, North Central 27
Championship Schedule
Saturday
At Dreher High School
Class 2A: Ninety-Six vs. Timberland 10 a.m.
Class 3A: Aynor vs. West-Oak, 1 p.m.
Class 4A: May River vs. Eastside, 4 p.m.
Class 5A: Hillcrest vs. Ashley Ridge, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 10:59 PM.