Uwharrie Charter Academy’s wrestling team gathers for a photo after finishing as the runner-up in the Class 1-A dual team state playoffs, falling to Avery County on Feb. 5. A week later, the Eagles were overwhelming champions in a Class 1-A regional.
Seven wrestlers from Uwharrie Charter Academy won individual championships in the Class 1-A regional, which was held Friday and Saturday at Rosewood.
The Eagles soared to the regional championship and built all sorts of momentum heading to the state tournament. Thirteen of the team’s wrestlers will head to states.
UCA’s champions were freshman Brandon Jordan at 113 pounds, junior Aldo Hernandez at 132, senior Byan Lackey at 138, sophomore Carson Robertson at 152, junior Grayson Roberts at 160, senior Doug Bowles at 170 and senior Jaden Marion at 220.
They’ll all be among the top seeds for the state tournament.
Jordan became UCA’s first freshman regional champion.
Bowles moved to 104 career pins, one away from the school record of 105 held by three-time state champion Hayden Waddell.
Bowles’ pins in the regional included a 38-second flattening of Jordan Ruedi of Voyager Academy in the final. His other two matches lasted 51 and 17 seconds.
Bowles and Roberts are both listed with 45-4 records this season. Roberts recorded two first-period pins before a 10-3 decision against Union Academy’s Isaac Williams in the final.
Hernandez is 46-3 and Marion is 30-3.
UCA’s 290 points gave it an overwhelming margin in the team standings. Rosewood was second with 189.
Wrestlers finishing in the top four in the regionals move on to states.
So regional runner-up Ethan Hines (106) and Jaden Maness (182) of UCA will join third-place finishers Jack McArthur (126), Aiden Carter (195) and Jake Morin (285) along with fourth-place finisher Jair Ulloa (145) at the state tournament.
Eastern Randolph will send Adrian Lopez (126) and Bryce Foland (170) to states based on their fourth-place spots in the regional.
The Class 1-A states begin Friday afternoon, while other classes start Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum. All divisions finish Saturday in the three-day event.
Class 2-A
At Concord, Trinity teammates Spencer May and David Makupson and Providence Grove’s Colton Wood claimed titles in the Midwest Regional at the Cabarrus County Arena.
May, a sophomore, won all three of his bouts at 113, with a pin of Mount Pleasant’s Trent Almond in the title bout to improve to 41-4.
Makupson, a senior with a 46-1 record this season, was 4-0 at 138, including a technical fall in the final against Eden Morehead’s Cole Pritchard.
Wood, a junior, was unbeaten in four matches at 285. He notched three pins and then won by a forfeit in the final.
Trinity has three others going to states. Casey Hohn (152) and Gavin Hardister (182) placed third, while Brayden Hall (106) was fourth. Hardister won the third-place bout against Providence Grove’s Brooks Freeman, also a state qualifier.
Southwestern Randolph will send three to states with Luke White (132) taking third place and Clay Sugg (195) and Jose Flores (220) ending up in fourth place in the regional.
Trinity was the team runner-up with 127 points, behind only Surry Central’s 153. Southwestern Randolph was eighth with 69.5 and Providence Grove was 10th with 63.5.
