The final stretch of the high school wrestling season starts this weekend when athletes travel to Anderson for the individual state championships.  

Lexington County will be well represented at the final event of the year with 42 wrestlers from 11 schools participating in the tournament. 25 athletes will compete in the 5A tournament, four in 4A, 11 in 3A and two in 2A.

Chapin is sending the most wrestlers to the finals. Eight Eagles will suit up for a shot at a title run, including the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the 113-pound class and upper state champion, Preston White. 

Gilbert and River Bluff will each send seven finalists to the championship event. The Indians will be looking to try and achieve an individual accomplishment after coming up just short of a team title. 

“We spend a lot of our season talking about working together as a team and scoring points for your teammates,” Gilbert head coach Mitch Hudson said. “There’s a little bit of a switch there that the kids, for the first time all year, get to wrestle for themselves. So, we put a lot of ownership back on them these last two weeks.”

Gilbert as a team finished in the top spot at the state semifinals this past weekend. Leading up to this week’s championship event, the wrestlers are practicing on a more focused and efficient schedule. 

“We’re trying to get them to peak right now, and a couple of them probably wrestled their best tournaments and several wrestled really good,” Hudson said following the 3A Lower State Individuals. “You want them getting through the postseason feeling good, not stressed and tired.”

The Gilbert wrestlers will have a good chance at bringing home some hardware. The remaining wrestlers have all had successful stretches this season and four won their weight classes’ lower state title. 

 Hayden Schroeder won the 132 lower state crown after beating John Michael Staples from Aynor. Jonathan Brentlinger won at 144, Shane Wise won at 150 and Colton Travis won at 190. 

Other athletes from the county won a semifinal championship too. 

Chapin had three wrestlers win the 5A individual upper state championship. White took the 113 class, Toler Hornick took 190 and Benjamin Del Piore won the 215 upper state championship.

River Bluff’s Edward Pitts, Reese Lawrence and Joshua Neblo won the individual lower state championship in the 175, 190 and 215-pound weight classes. 

Dutch Fork and Irmo each had one wrestler win a semifinal championship. Kaleb McNeil won the 157-pound upper state final for Dutch Fork, and Ethan Gamble won at 215 pounds for Irmo. 

Winning the semi-final championship gives no advantage other than a confidence boost. The athletes that came up short last weekend but still qualified for this weekend, have an opportunity to redeem themselves and leap to the top. 

Anyone can win in the state final. The remaining athletes are all talented, and Hudson said it’s important wrestlers focus on the opponent on the mat and nothing else going on around. 

“You’re going to get some competition, and you’re going to get some things thrown at you that you might not have seen a lot,” Hudson said. “Ultimately what you’re trying to do is wrestle your match and put your opponent in situations where you’re comfortable.”

Here is a list of all the wrestlers that qualified for this weekend’s individual state finals.

5A individual finalist 

106: Jace Randolph. Chapin; Peter Vaporis, River Bluff; Dane Dillon, White Knoll
113: Preston White, Chapin; Adrian Galo, White Knoll 

120: Aiden Steele Chapin

126: Josh Atkins Chapin 

132: Kolin Kunkle, Dutch Fork 

138: Robert Brown, River Bluff
144: Wilson Immesberger, Dutch Fork; Breydon Jennings, Lexington; Carl Edwards, River Bluff
150: William Lide, Lexington
157: Kaleb McNeil, Dutch Fork; Lake Newman, Chapin
165: Harrison Jones, Chapin; Logan Taylor, White Knoll; Hudson Pye, River Bluff
175: Edward Pitts, River Bluff; Carlos Ponce, White Knoll
190: Toler Hornick Chapin; Reese Lawrence, River Bluff; Reco Rembert, White Knoll
215: Benjamin Del Piore, Chapin; Joshua Neblo, River Bluff

4A individual finalist 

150: Logan Crandall, Airport 

157: Trey Neil, Airport

215: Ethan Gamble, Irmo; Bryant Cherry, Airport

3A individual finalist 

113: Benson Gladden, Brookland-Cayce

126: Devin Lirgg, Gilbert

132: Hayden Schroeder, Gilbert; Mekhi Hampton. Swansea

144: Jonathan Brentlinger, Gilbert; Chase Alley, Swansea 

150: Shane Wise, Gilbert

165: Connor Mathews, Brookland-Cayce 

190: Colton Travis, Gilbert

215: Kelvin Blackwell, Gilbert 

285: Xavian Davenport, Gilbert

2A/A individual finalist 

106: Landon Byrd, Pelion

157: Colin Williams, Pelion