FLORENCE – For the first time since 2022, wrestling teams from Fort Mill Township came home from the individual state tournament without a state champion.
Despite 17 local wrestlers making it to the 5A individual state championship tournament, only two made the finals in their respective weight classes. With weight classes expanding from eight man to 16-man brackets, the wrestling was a lot more competitive and was harder than most had anticipated, especially with strong schools from the 4A level last year like Eastside and Indian Land moving up to the 5A tournament this year.
Unlike the regular season where in team duals, 5A was divided into two divisions, in the state tournament it was just a single 5A classification with the 16 best wrestlers in each weight class battling for supremacy.
Fort Mill’s Lincoln Greene (138) and Nation Ford’s Derek Bylone van Sandwyk (190) made it to the finals in their weight class. Bylone van Sandwyk was one of three wrestlers the Falcons brought, but the only one that placed.
Fort Mill brought nine wrestlers to the tournament, but only Greene placed. Greene had a hard-fought match against Byrnes’ Connor Beaudin falling 9-3. The match started with each wrestler trying to figure out the other one, but Beaudin, a former state champion, was aggressive in the third period to scoring most of his points after holding a slim 2-1 lead.
“It is a much more competitive tournament,” said Fort Mill head coach Adam Marullo. “It is disappointing, but I am proud of our effort.”
In the 190-pound finals, Bylone van Sandwyk fell 9-5 to Rock Hill’s Trey Robinson. Nation Ford head coach Dan Snell was still optimistic about his season.
“We had a lot of growth this year,” he said. “We had a lot of guys come a long way.”
Besides the finals, Fort Mill had one in the consolation finals in Luke Van Beynum (113). He finished fourth losing 11-3 to Boiling Springs’ Luke Hillers.
Catawba Ridge brought five wrestlers with Taylon Winker (106) placing. Winkler finished third with a second period pin against Clover’s Beckham Boggess. Alex Johnson (215) finished fourth in his weight class falling 2-1 in sudden victory to Eastside’s Lucas Tankersley.
“We are where we need to be,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Nick Hansen. “We just got to get our name out there.”
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
