Two local wrestlers were named All-Americans at the National High School Coaches Association High School Nationals (NHSCA) tournament in Virginia Beach, with one of them coming away as a national champion.
Banks Trail Middle School seventh grader Shamus Regan became the third former Fort Mill youth wrestler to win a national championship at the NHSCA tournament. Regan, who finished second in his weight class at Tulsa Nationals in January, follows in the footsteps of AJ Leitten, who won one in 2011, and John Brotemarkle, who won in 2010.
Regan dominated the 75-pound weight class winning four matches and only giving up two points throughout the entire tournament. He outscored his opponents 60-2 getting tech falls in three of the four matches he won and a pin in the other match.
In the opening round, Regan won 16-0 over Alabama’s Will Atkinson and then got a 19-2 tech fall over Pennsylvania’s Luke Kleisath. In the semifinals, Regan got a pin over Georgia’s Cooper McArthur, while leading 9-0 in just 2:58 into the match. Then in the finals, he beat Idaho’s Jeralt Robinson 16-0 with another tech fall.
Fort Mill’s only female wrestler and 2020 state champion Bella Hoffman finished fifth at 120-pounds in the female division. Hoffman missed her opportunity to go shortly after the 2020 season because of the coronavirus issues and the start of the pandemic. Hoffman missed nearly the entire 2020-2021 high school season getting injured in her first match of the year.
Hoffman won 2-0 in the round of 16 beating Pennsylvania’s Isabella Baccio by pin in just 26 seconds to advance to the quarterfinals where she won by tech fall 19-2 over Wyoming’s Alleynah Ronnau. In the semifinals, Hoffman lost to Pensylvania’s Montana DeLawder which put her in the consolation bracket. In the consolation bracket, she lost to Nevada’s Katie Ward putting her in the fifth-place match where she beat California’s Diana Percell with a pin in 1:32 of the first period.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
