North's Tysinger, East's White vie for wrestling state championships
Tue. February 21, 2012 at 10:26 p.m. | By Jason Queen
North Davidson’s Cody Tysinger gets the advantage on Scotland County’s Adrian Soto-Perez during their 170-pound championship at the King of the Mat on Dec. 23. Tysinger won that match. He wll be vying for the 182-pound state championship beginning Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum. (Photo by Mike Duprez/The Dispatch)
When North Davidson senior Cody Tysinger began the season, he had one goal in mind.
“What we had worked on throughout the year was to finish the last match and have our hand raised,” North coach Danny Crotts said Tuesday.
Tysinger will have his chance to accomplish that goal this weekend. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s state wrestling championships will begin Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum, with the finals set to begin around 6 p.m. Saturday.
Each weight class will begin with 16 wrestlers, four from each of the West, Midwest, Mideast and East regions.
On paper, Tysinger (182 pounds) certainly has a good look at a state championship. He is 48-1 this season after finishing fifth a year ago. His only loss of the season came in late January to defending state and national champion Nick Kee of Scotland County, at the Twin City Rumble at Glenn High School. But Kee will be wrestling at the 170-pound class, moving one big obstacle out of the path.
Regardless of who was standing in his way, Tysinger has worked hard to improve on last year. “We spent a bunch of time at camp this summer, and he sought out everybody he could while we were at camp at Newberry,” Crotts added. “He wrestled one of their national champions (Newberry is a Division II national power that finished second in the country last year) at least once or twice each day, he wrestled four or five of their starters every day, and their coaching staff.”
It obviously paid off. Tysinger rolled through this season with only the one blemish winning weekend tournament after weekend tournament. He culminated the phenomenal season by winning the Midwest regional this past weekend at Glenn. Should all go well this weekend, Crotts considers South Caldwell’s David Crouch, who’s 46-0 and currently ranked No. 1 in the state, and J.H. Rose’s Jay Speight, as two of the toughest challengers Tysinger could face.
East Davidson heavyweight Josh White joined Tysinger as a regional champion, claiming the 2-A Midwest regional this weekend. White comes into the state tournament at 22-2, with his only losses coming to Piedmont’s Kyle Ice and Central Davidson’s Jake Comer. He put all of that on the backburner this weekend and put his school’s reputation on his back after coming just short of medalling at last year’s state tournament . “He wanted to get back there as a senior,” East coach Chris Wagner explained. “I’ve had a bad string of kids that qualified as juniors and didn’t make it back to the states.
“So he wanted to break that streak for the East Davidson kids.”
Wagner considers Chris Fess of Beddingfield, the No. 1 seed from the East who brings a 31-1 record into the weekend, and Ashe County’s Joshua Wineberg, who finished second in the Midwest, as two of the strongest challengers White could face this weekend.
Elsewhere across the county, Central Carolina Conference champion Thomasville placed four wrestlers in the 2-A tournament. Aaron Reeves (152) won his weight class and comes in with a 50-9 record; Tay Dupree (120, 48-7), Gabe Brockett (170, 50-9) and Ryan Broadie (220, 45-2) all finished second in the Midwest regional and will have a shot at a state title.
Ledford also placed four wrestlers in the 3-A tournament. Shabaz Butt (138, 45-9) and Josh Vivod (220, 42-6) finished second in the Midwest, Austin DeBerry (126, 45-9) placed third and Tyler Hinch (120, 30-5) was fourth.
Lexington will send three wrestlers and West Davidson will send four to Greensboro this weekend. For Lexington, Danford Carpenter (138, 25-7) and Kabron Horton (182, 28-2) finished second in the region, and Darel Martin Jr. (160, 24-4) placed fourth. For West, Frank Phillips (126, 24-9) and Shane Hemmings (152, 22-6) finished third in the Midwest, and Josh Shoaf (182, 27-11) and Tyler Hudson (220, 28-9) placed fourth.
Central Davidson has two state qualifiers, sending Nathan Propst (106, 23-9) and Richie Acord (132, 39-8). Both finished second in the region.
In the 1-A ranks, South Davidson will send Randall Witcher (106, 24-12) and Brendan Crowell (152, 25-8) to the state tournament.
Jason Queen can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220 or jason.queen@the-dispatch.com.