The high school wrestling season will conclude this weekend in South Carolina with the SCHSL individual wrestling finals. 

Athletes from around the state will travel to the Florence Center on Friday and Saturday and go head-to-head in a bracket-style competition until one wrestler is left standing in each weight class for each classification. 

Lexington County will be well represented at the event with 85 athletes from all 14 SCHSL schools qualifying after advancing past the upper and lower state qualifiers. 

Swansea leads the way with 13 wrestlers competing in the 3A brackets. Mekhi Hampton and Chase Alley will be two wrestlers to watch after finishing first in their qualifier. 

27 local athletes will compete in the 5A tournament with a few athletes from different schools competing in the same weight class. Chapin’s Matthew Boland, Dutch Fork’s Bryson Hipps and White Knoll’s Mason Amaker will compete for the 106-pound title. Chapin’s Preston White, River Bluff’s Peter Vaporis and White Knoll’s Dane Dillon will compete at 120. 

Seven schools will have at least one girl competing for a title. Airport, Brookland-Cayce, Chapin, Gilbert, Lexington, River Bluff, Swansea and White Knoll are all represented. 

River Bluff leads the pack with six athletes. White Knoll and Airport also have multiple athletes attending. Brookland-Cayce, Chapin, Gilbert, Lexington and Swansea have one athlete. 

The SCHSL Individual championships begin Friday at 10 a.m. with weigh-ins. The first round of action begins at 12 p.m. The championship rounds will be Saturday at 3:30 p.m. 

Qualified local wrestlers

5A

Chapin - (106) Matthew Boland, (113) Brandon Rogers, (120) Preston White, (126) Josh Atkins, (144) Ben Bonnett, (157) Nathaniel Nabors, (165) Jacob Keisler, (175) Lake Newman

Dutch Fork - (106) Bryson Hipps, (175) Kaleb McNeil

Irmo - (138) Demirion Smith, (215) Ethan Gamble

Lexington - (126) Wesley Heimbach, (144) Breydon Jennings, (150) Joshua Kubinak, (165) John Marcum, (190) Carlson Kilcrease, (215) Carl Palma

River Bluff - (120) Peter Vaporis, (126) Will Edwards, (157) Riley Brown, (165) Gavin Boozer, (175) Cael Edwards

White Knoll - (106) Mason Amaker, (120) Dane Dillon, (132) Adrian Galo, (175) Reco Rembert

4A

Airport - (113) Jay Tyler, (138) Devonte Carter, (157) Mike Slocum, (190) Jonathan Brown, (215) Bryant Cherry

Brookland-Cayce - (144) Sauyer Geddings

Gilbert - (106) Collin Comer, (113) Jack Turner, (132) Noah Hays, (138) Devin Lirgg, (144) Anthony Culick, (157) Shane Wise, (190) Jake Stroud, (215) Inman Burkett

Gray Collegiate - (138) Wade Campbell

3A

Swansea - (113) Jackson Jeffcoat, (120) Michel Rosales, (126) Austin Crocker, (132) Landon Cunningham, (138) Mekhi Hampton, (144) Daniel Aguilar, (150) Chase Alley, (157) James Smith, (165) Gabe Kirsch, (175) Patrick Larry, (190) Jerel Wine, (215) Luis Vigueras, (285) Kasiah Harkless-Adams

2A

American Leadership - (106) Blake Hino, (120) Hayden Hutto, (126) Dayton Daniel, (165) Asher Wright 

Batesburg-Leesville - (190) Josh Wise

Pelion - (113) Landon Byrd, (132) Shiloh Tindal, (138) Isaiah Dover, (157) Hunter Rawl, (165) Colin Williams, (175) Corey Campbell, (190) Richard Havens, (215) John Hannon

Girls

Airport - (142) Skyler Simmons, (147) Givyn Dyer

Brookland-Cayce - (127) Hayden Moore

Chapin - (137) Grace Jumper

Gilbert - (157) Rory Travis

Lexington - (122) Grace Beeson

River Bluff - (102) Malyn Gentry, (132) Gracie Beaulieu, (137) Sophia Voudouris, (147) Amy Robinson, (157) Kyrra Shipman-Lutz, (237) Savannah Parrett

Swansea - (237) Aniya Ruiz

White Knoll - (117) Chandler Branham, (172) Irie Edwards, (192) Shayanna Shell, (237) Naomi Priester