Bevy of local grapplers ranked ahead of Horry-Georgetown tourney

With exams taking the full focus of local student-athletes, action on the mat by and large came to screeching halt last week.

If not before then, all area wrestling teams will return to some sort of normalcy this week, looking ahead to Saturday’s Horry-Georgetown Wrestling Championship at North Myrtle Beach High School. Festivities begin at 10 a.m.

Ahead of the event pitting the Grand Strand’s wrestling teams one against the other, SCMAT released its latest rankings. Five local squads are ranked, with 13 individual wrestlers receiving recognition.

On a team basis, St. James is ranked highest among area teams in their respective classifications, coming in ninth. It is joined by fellow Region VII-4A foes Myrtle Beach (16th) and North Myrtle Beach (18th).

In Class 5A, Carolina Forest was listed at No. 13, while Aynor is 15th in Class 3A.

The Grand Strand is deepest in the 152-pound division, with four grapplers listed among the state’s best.

Among them are Carolina Forest’s John Winzenried, the No. 2 wrestler in Class 5A, followed by Rashaan Vereen of North Myrtle Beach and St James’ Brandon Ellis, ranked No. 4 and No. 6 among those in Class 4A at the same weight limit. Aynor’s DreQwan McCray was third among those at 152 pounds in Class 3A.

Also among those recognized by SCMAT were: Carolina Forest’s Joe Muniz and P.J. Wunderlich, both eighth at Class 5A’s 106- and 113-pound division, respectively; from Myrtle Beach, Stephen Desjardins was second among those in Class 4A’s 182-pound weight class, Daniel Mitchell was fifth at the 220-pound level, with Pedro Reyes (4th) and Jacob Cisco (8th) ranked at 285 pounds; North Myrtle Beach saw Brennan Michael (4th) and Curtis Wolfe (3rd) ranked; Aynor’s Seth Sarvis was fourth in Class 3A at 132 pounds; while Loris’ Timmothy Bell and Waccamaw’s Jack Cook are both among the state’s top wrestlers at 170 pounds.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Bevy of local grapplers ranked ahead of Horry-Georgetown tourney."