Twenty area high school wrestlers heading to Class AAA state finals

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- There were 280 wrestlers dreaming for a chance to qualify for the Class AAA state wrestling finals. Of those, only 56 would fulfill that dream after Saturday’s Class AAA Lower State championships at North Myrtle Beach High School.

The Grand Strand was well-represented as 20 of the qualifiers were from the area.

“Horry County has always been competitive ever since I grew up here,” St. James coach Mark Anderson said. “It falls on the county. We aren’t able to have a JV team like most of these other teams. I know we have the kids here, it’s just we have to get them matches.”

Socastee coach Jeff Gibbons was impressed by the area’s showing.

“I think Region VIII had a great showing today,” Gibbons said. “Every year this tournament gets a little tougher and tougher. Each year we can usually count on the semifinals being tough but this year the quarterfinals and consolation brackets had some tough matchups. We are competing at the level we are with no JV team, but it is the way we have to deal with it for now.”

North Myrtle Beach coach Andrew Baeli sees Saturday’s result as a sign of progression.

“Horry County is coming along,” Baeli said. “We are developing youth programs and the caliber of wrestling is turning up. We have the JV programs but we are limited to what we can do. It is nothing against Horry County Schools; it’s just the budget. As long as we can keep the caliber of varsity wrestling up, hopefully we will see a change in the near future.”

St. James had the most wrestlers advance with eight. Of those, six will be the top seed from the Lower State in their respective weight classes. The Sharks had seven No. 1 seeds and all of them made it to the finals, with only one losing.

“Great job by those guys today,” St. James coach Mark Anderson said. “I’m really sorry for my 106, 113 and 182. All three of them were one match out and had their kids beat but those guys are young and they will be back.”

Mason Elliott (126) was the first on the championship mat for the Sharks and easily beat Dreher’s Sheldon Melvin, 9-3. It then came to what might have been the best championship match of the day between Jamie Bolduc and Bluffton’s Austin Farmer at 132.

Farmer was up 4-0 after the first period of beating up on Bolduc. In the ensuing periods, though, Bolduc looked like a totally different wrestler.

“After I was down 4-0 and he chose bottom, I knew I had to go to work,” Bolduc said. “I immediately threw in my mason-tilt and kept rolling and rolling to score my back (points).”

Bolduc started by getting a reversal. He then threw in that tilt and rolled Farmer over and gained three points and was up one after the second period. In the third, he would add one more takedown to win the match, 7-4.

The Sharks’ Codi Rothermel followed Bolduc with a win in the 138 final over Chapin’s Forest Touchberry, 5-0. Then, James Van Slooten won a 4-0 decision over Dreher’s Chris Bloch at 145. Finally, Derek Rothermel finished the five straight weight class wins at 152 defeating Chapin’s Chase Owens, 7-3.

After the 160 class, the Sharks’ Gregg Johnsen (170) fell short against Chapin’s Devin Lawrence, 8-3. Austin Brown (220), the final Shark in the finals, pinned Chapin’s Brandon Owens. The other qualifier for St. James was John Delbianco at 120.

Socastee had four wrestlers advance. Dylan Martin (113) was pinned by Bluffton’s Levi Joly in the finals and Craig Martin (285) came up short against Battery Creek’s David Ratliff on a 1-0 decision in the championship. The Braves’ Kyle Burton and Justin Knipper also advanced.

North Myrtle Beach will have three wrestlers at the state tournament. Steven Small (120), who was the lone Chief in a final, was pinned in the by Hilton Head Island’s Label Lewis. The Chiefs’ Tanner Fellenz and Hampton Harmon also qualified.

Myrtle Beach had five grapplers advance: Jonathan Iseman (113), Daniel Miller (145), Joseph Desjardins (152), Tevin Cheatham (160) and Miguel Mejia (170).

•  Team key: B-Bluffton; BC-Battery Creek; C-Chapin; CB-Cane Bay; D-Dreher; HH-Hilton Head Island; NMB-North Myrtle Beach; S-Socastee; SJ-St. James

Championship results

• 106, David Waddell, HH, dec. Lloyd Williams, B 6-4; 113, Levi Joly, B, pinned Dylan Martin, S, 3:52; 120, Label Lewis, HH, pinned Steven Small, NMB, 1:20; 126, Mason Elliott, SJ, dec. Sheldon Melvin, D, 9-3; 132, Jaime Bolduc, SJ, dec. Austin Farmer, B, 7-4; 138, Codi Rothermel, SJ, dec. Forest Touchberry, C, 5-0; 145, James Van Slooten, SJ, dec. Chris Bloch, D, 4-0; 152, Derek Rothermel, SJ, dec. Chase Owens, C, 7-3; 160, Scott Swindell, C, pinned DeAndre Johnson, BC, 2:30; 170, Devin Lawrence, C, dec. Gregg Johnsen, SJ, 8-3; 182, Cody Brundage, C, pinned Matt Rudy, CB, 5:20; 195, Chris David, CB, dec. Nick Bautista, HH, 2-1; 220, Austin Brown, SJ, pinned Brandon Owens, C, 5:30; 285, David Ratliff, BC, dec. Craig Burton, S, 1-0.