Regional champ Brinkley among 4 local state wrestling qualifiers

Draughn High School sophomore Connor Brinkley won his 215-pound weight class at the NCHSAA 1A West Regional individual tournament on Feb. 15 at Cherryville, becoming the lone Burke County regional champion this season.

Brinkley qualified for the state championships in the process, and he will be joined there by Patton wrestlers Burke Wilson and Luke Parker as well as by East Burke’s Zach Ward.

Brinkley won his first two regional matches at the two-day event (which started Feb. 14) by claiming first-period pins in 22 and 49 seconds, respectively, over Bessemer City’s Kyrese Gullate and Starmount’s Adrian Navarro.

He then claimed a 7-2 decision over Aaron Ruiz-Angel of Mount Airy in the championship semifinals and ended his title run with an 11-3 major decision over Kellen Ensley of Robbinsville to improve his record to 41-7 this winter.

In the 2A event hosted by West Lincoln the same two days, Parker claimed the runner-up spot at 144 pounds, Wilson placed third at 175, and Ward finished fourth at 138. All three wrestlers are seniors.

Parker — who’s also 41-7 entering state and who, like Brinkley, won a conference title last month — won on three consecutive first-period pins (1:27, 1:55, 1:40) to reach the championship finals but fell there to Newton-Conover’s Boedi Kirkland on a late first-period pin (1:52).

Wilson, the county’s winningest wrestler this winter at 48-10, won by first-period pin (1:17) in his opening match but lost by second-period pin (2:26) as he was relegated to the consolation bracket.

He then claimed three consecutive first-period pins (1:24, 2:00, 0:58) over opponents from Burns, Shelby, and North Wilkes before topping Lincolnton’s Gavin Gholami by 15-0 tech fall early in the second period for third place.

Ward (22-8) opened with a pair of pinfall wins (4:24 and 1:45) before losing by pin in the championship semis. He answered with a 4-3 decision to sew up a spot at state with a consolation final berth but had to forfeit the third-place match after losing a front tooth during his final win of the day.

Three other Burke County grapplers were within a match of qualifying for state.

EB heavyweight Joshua Hess (24-7) won three times via pin (twice in first period, once in second period) to reach the consolation semis, where his run ended with a loss by second-period pin.

In the 3A regional at Pisgah, Freedom’s Xander Vue (106) and Kaleb Pearson (132) also fell in the consolation semis.

Vue won by 17-2 tech fall to open, then lost via tech fall before pinning back-to-back opponents in the second and third periods. His run ended with a defeat by second-period pin. Pearson reached the championship semis with a 15-0 tech fall and injury default before losing via tech fall and pin.

Ten other local wrestlers won one match apiece at regionals. They included Draughn’s Jayson Yang (113; first-period pin), Paxton Brown (126; second-period pin), Isaac Kirk (144; second-period pin), Cayman Lewis (165; 21-5 tech fall), and Landon Clark (175; first-period pin); EB’s Hue Xiong (126; second-period pin) and Patrick Hernandez (215; first-period pin); Freedom’s Enrique Gonzalez (138; 16-13 decision); and Patton’s Cayden Marshall (126; third-period pin) and Cavan Sullivano (157; 16-0 tech fall).

North Carolina School for the Deaf’s lone wrestler at the 1A event, Jay Rodriguez, lost his first two matches and was eliminated.

The state championships at the Greensboro Coliseum were postponed to Saturday (today) through Monday due to this week’s winter weather across the state.

INDOOR TRACK

Two county athletes medal at state

Student-athletes from four different county schools competed in the NCHSAA 1A/2A indoor track state championship meet on Feb. 14 at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salam.

Leading the way was East Burke senior Kolby Byrd, the indoor county record holder in the boys shot put who placed second in the state in the event with a distance of 54 feet, 11 inches.

Plenty of distance runners from across the county qualified and performed well at the meet.

Patton freshman Elisabeth Sawdy placed fourth in the girls 1600 meters (5:30.85) and fifth in the 3200 meters (12:06.05), while NCSSM-Morganton’s Stella Friedman took third place in the girls 1600 (5:28.35) and eighth in the 3200 (12:23.30). Two-time conference cross country runner of the year Cadence Willis of EB placed ninth in the girls 1600 (5:39.43) and 11th in the 3200 (13:04.93).

NCSSM-M’s Max Vaughan finished ninth in the boys 3200 meters (10:19.57), and Patton’s Gabe Wykle (10:38.00) was 14th in the event.

Draughn’s lone state qualifier, Anna Cape, placed 11th in the girls pole vault (7’6”), and EB’s Ossie Burkeen was 11th in the boys 55-meter hurdles (8.26).

Freedom had no qualifiers for this year’s 3A state championships, which were held the following day at JDL.

The highest local team finishes on the day went to the Lady Panthers (17th; nine points), Lady Dragons (22nd; seven points), and the 2023 state champion and 2024 runner-up Cavalier boys (28th, eight points).