Pair of upsets highlight Horry/Georgetown County Championship wrestling tournament

St. James senior Spencer Deegan wrestled at heavyweight all of last year.

After cutting his weight to about 182 pounds in the offseason, he has grappled in the 195-pound division this season. On Saturday, though, Deegan was back in his normal spot and he didn’t let the opportunity go to waste.

Deegan took a 10-6 decision over Myrtle Beach’s Stephen Desjardins in the 182-pound division at the Horry/Georgetown County Championship to earn a gold medal, and also helped the Sharks to the overall team victory as they edged out Carolina Forest.

“I’m proud of myself and all my teammates,” Deegan said. “We had a lot of really close matches, and we’re all proud – win or lose. We got the team title, but some guys lost in the finals. They still don’t have any reason to hang their heads.”

It was a pretty big upset for Deegan as Desjardins has been steadily rolling past competition en route to a No. 6 ranking at 182 pounds, according to SCMat.com.

“There was a lot of good competition out here, and [Desjardins] was awesome,” he said. “He’s just a good wrestler and deserves his ranking. I had to congratulate him after the match.”

Deegan and Desjardins have wrestled on one previous occasion, with Desjardins taking the decision by two points.

“After the match, he told me, ‘Now we’re 1-1. We need one more,’ ” Deegan said. “I’d love to wrestle him again.”

That may be possible, too, as St. James locks up with Myrtle Beach for a Region VII-AAA dual next Friday. But Deegan will likely be back at 195 pounds for that match.

“He’s helped fill a void at that spot,” Sharks coach Matt Anderson said of Deegan. “He’s been doing well, too. That was a big win tonight for him; that Desjardins kid is really good.”

Deegan will look to keep things rolling for the Sharks after taking home some hardware Saturday.

“It’s been a long day and I’m happy to go home with a medal,” Deegan said. “But this just gives me a lot of confidence.”

CF’s Winzenried upsets undefeated Mewhorter to take gold

Just saying that Carolina Forest grappler John Winzenried had a good day Saturday would be an understatement.

Winzenried went 3-0 in the tournament, and took down the previously undefeated St. James senior Michael Mewhorter – ranked No. 1, according to SCMat.com – in the finals of the 145-pound division to take gold.

“I had it in my mind that I was going to win it. It was just a matter of going out there and executing and earning it,” Winzenried said. “I trained really hard for this and to get it feels really good.”

The match didn’t come without dramatics, though.

With under 30 seconds left and the score tied 7-all, Mewhorter thought that Winzenried was going out of bounds to send it to overtime. However, Winzenried quickly turned around and caught Mewhorter in a near side cradle with just four seconds left, and got three near fall points to take a 10-7 decision.

“He’s definitely the best guy I’ve ever wrestled,” Winzenried said. “I only have two losses this year and one is to him and the other is from a kid in Virginia. It was great to avenge that loss and I made the most of it. All that hard work finally paid off.”

Winzenried was locked in beforehand, and said there was no stopping him. Not on this day.

“I woke up and had it in my head, ‘Hey I’m going to win this thing,’ ” Winzenried said. “Going in, I felt good. I got pumped up, listened to my music and was ready to go.”

St. James coach Matt Anderson credited Winzenried for persevering against his top wrestler.

“[Winzenried] was just holding on for dear life there at the end. But he wrestled well,” Anderson said. “Michael wrestled well, too. He just couldn’t get the win.”

After the loss, Anderson said there should be some pressure lifted off Mewhorter’s shoulders as he doesn’t have to worry about keeping an undefeated record. He can just focus on wrestling and fundamentals.

“That was a heartbreaker. [Mewhorter] has already beat him twice before; he just got caught in a cradle and we just didn’t have enough time on the clock,” Anderson said. “I think it will be good for him, though. He needed to get that out of the way early on; he had that one loss last year in the state finals. This year, he can take this [loss] now and win it all at state.”

Meanwhile, Winzenried has a newfound morale after taking down one of the best in the state.

“Beating the No. 1 guy in the state just gives me an extra confidence boost,” he said. “But I know I still have to work hard.”

Aynor’s Andrew locks in, wins gold

Dylan Andrew paced around the gym with his headphones on, eagerly awaiting his championship match.

The Aynor wrestler was locked in, and ready to go. It showed.

Andrew quickly got out to a big advantage against Socastee’s Tyler Ward and held him off for a hard-fought 12-6 decision at 106 pounds and took home a gold medal.

“I think there’s a lot of tough competition in my weight class, but I’ve trained hard and I feel like my hard work and dedication paid off today,” said Andrew, a senior. “Before every match, I listen to music to get my head right. I go into every match with confidence but respect for my opponent. I was confident in myself and ready to get the win.”

Blue Jackets coach Marion Shaw said he’s been fascinated with Andrew’s dedication and improvement.

“He’s going to give it his all and leave it all on the mat,” Shaw said. “He had a great day.”

Andrew sits at 32-1 overall this season and is ranked No. 2 at 106 pounds, according to SCMat.com.

And he has set the bar pretty high.

“I feel really confident,” he said. “I’m going to keep working hard and try to win a state championship.”

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Pair of upsets highlight Horry/Georgetown County Championship wrestling tournament."