Despite not having any individual winners from the three high schools, the Fort Mill wrestling team finished second in their host tournament – the Kingsley Classic.
Eastside High School won the tournament with 284 points as Fort Mill came in second with 183.5 points in the nine-team tournament. Harrison High out of Georgia finished third with 181.5 points. Nation Ford was seventh with 101 points and Catawba Ridge was eighth with 100 points.
The Jackets had 11 wrestlers participate in the tournament and had nine of them place in the top four.
“We exceeded what I thought we could,” said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock. “I think it will be a boost of confidence for us.”
Fort Mill had two wrestlers get to the finals in Aidan Eubanks at 113-pounds and Noah Kitchton at 145-pounds. Eubanks finished second falling in the first period and Kitchton lost 9-7 in overtime to Harrison’s Tyler Gallegos.
The Jackets had seven wrestlers finish either third or fourth in the tournament. Jacob Nally finished third with a first period pin at 106-pounds. Bella Hoffman won by a 3-2 decision at 120-pounds for third place. Caleb Brock finished third with a pin at 138-pounds. Henry Debbout finished third at 195-pounds with a pin over Catawba Ridge’s Beau Nicoll, who finished fourth, and Flynn Hyde was third at 220-pounds with a pin in the first period.
Finishing fourth for Fort Mill was Logan Shope (126) and TJ Miller, who lost 12-4 to Nation Ford’s Caden Brandenburg.
Catawba Ridge had two wrestlers make the finals at 138-pounds and heavyweight. Jakob Kees fell by third period pinfall at 138-pounds to Harrison’s Gavin Glenn and Eastside’s Daniel Esparza won 10-1 over the Copperheads’ Alex Bunz at heavyweight. Levi Jones finished fourth at 145-pounds for Catawba Ridge as well.
“We wrestled well this weekend,” said Copperheads’ head coach Allen Runyon. “I knew it would be a good test. There was some disappointment. This tournament is tough. They matched up with some quality guys this weekend.”
Nation Ford had one finalist at 220-pounds in Clayton Rygol, who fell 3-2 to finish second to Byrnes’ Caleb Melton. The Falcons had three wrestlers finish third in the tournament in Bradenburg, Dalton Curtsinger (132) and Isaac Nieves (170).
“We wrestled a little inconsistent,” said Nation Ford head coach Tony Forte. “We wrestled well in spots. We are still a young team and are learning the sport and how to make a commitment to the team.”
Coming up this week, Fort Mill will host a dual against River Bluff, who they saw in the Kingsley tournament. Catawba Ridge will travel to Buford to wrestle in a tri-match and Nation Ford will travel to Blythewood to wrestle in a quad-dual.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
