The area’s top high school wrestlers put forth another strong effort in the March 6, 2021 individual state championships at Dreher High School.
In all, nine local grapplers qualified for their respective Class AAAA brackets, and five made it to the state semifinals.
Two of them, South Aiken’s Carson Sessoms and Aiken’s Triston Williams, were there as No. 1 seeds and with first-round byes as Lower State champions.
Sessoms, wrestling at 120 pounds, dropped an 8-1 decision in his semifinal match before rebounding to beat Myrtle Beach’s Christian Lopez for third place.
Williams, at 285, had the longest wait of any area wrestler – his semifinal match didn’t begin until 8:17 p.m. He had a shot in the closing seconds against Eastside’s Daniel Esparza before falling 6-3. Williams faced Midland Valley’s John Burke, who was pinned by Lugoff-Elgin’s Karrington Charles, in the third-place match. Burke won his first-round match 11-10 over Laurens’ Kole Lawson.
South Aiken’s Hunter Goodwin, a No. 3 seed, reached the semis at 170 with a dominant 21-4 win over Greenwood’s Ethan Richardson before falling 13-6 to Beaufort’s Colton Phares.
South Aiken’s Lathan Garland, a No. 3 seed, reached the semifinals at 106 with a 15-8 win in his first-round match against Dreher’s William Smolka before being pinned in the semis. He lost to Hilton Head Island’s Zao Estrada and finished fourth.
Midland Valley’s Destin Freeman, a No. 3 seed making his second state championship appearance, lost 18-0 to Eastside’s Lane Schrader in the first round at 126.
South Aiken’s Camden Taylor, the Region 5-AAAA Wrestler of the Year and a No. 2 seed, was pinned by South Pointe’s Spencer Cox in the first round at 132. This was Taylor’s second trip to state.
Aiken’s Will Brinkley, a No. 3 seed, dropped a tight 8-7 decision to Lancaster’s Eric Byrd in the first round at 160.
Midland Valley’s Cory Yazzie, a No. 3 seed, was pinned in the first round at 220 by Traveler’s Rest’s Kodie Hughes.
Read the full Aiken Standard article here.