Southwestern Randolph’s Jose Flores matches up with Holmes’ Steven Ferebee in the first round of the state tournament. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)
GREENSBORO — Southwestern Randolph wrestler Jose Flores found perspective as his high school wrestling career came to close in eerily quiet fashion.
He leaves as a one-time state champion, though he couldn’t repeat that in his last two seasons.
“Overall, I’m disappointed I couldn’t get first,” Flores after last week’s tournament ended. “I did do better than I did last year. As I looked at it, I placed three seasons.”
Flores placed third in Class 2A at 285 pounds. It came without fanfare and minus the buzz of the finals, something he experienced two years earlier.
On a Monday afternoon in late February, there was just one match going on to finish consolation bouts. The beginning of the championship round was about two hours away. The seating bowl in First Horizon Coliseum was nearly deserted.
There was Flores, putting the finishing touches on a 5-1 decision against Antonio Nixon of Trask in the third-place bout.
“It kind of is a different situation,” Flores said. “It’s not an environment that I’m used to because I’m usually in finals.”
His 41-2 record this season included a consolation-round victory against Trinity’s Joseph Trahan, who he also defeated during the regular season.
Flores’ career record ended at 140-21.
Before the weight classes were adjusted, Flores became the Class 2A champion in the 220-pound division as a sophomore in 2023. Last year 215, he was fourth.
Holding the tag as a state champion came with challenges the past two seasons.
“It really makes it tough,” Flores said. “Yes, I won states. I’ve got to defend it.”
This year’s frustration for Flores came in the semifinals against eventual champion Jaden McClary of Goldsboro. Flores trailed 3-0, but had locked in a move from the top position that looked promising when it was deemed time had expired.
But there was a timing glitch that, after numerous appeals, was acknowledged and resulted in a long delay to sort out. When the bout resumed, the wrestlers started in a neutral position rather than with Flores holding the upper hand “where I had him close to a pin,” the Southwestern Randolph wrestler said. Flores said McClary had time to rest, and then the Goldsboro junior basically bull-rushed him until the match ended.
Browning on the board
Wheatmore’s Noah Browning placed sixth at 190 pounds in Class 2A and he considered that a special accomplishment.
“It’s a big thing for me,” he said.
The first-time state qualifier racked up a 42-16 record as a senior.
Browning had a 3-3 record in the states. That marked a significant climb from his first season, when he won six matches. He said he thinks his record was 6-36.
But daily in practice he saw the board in the team room listing state place finishers and those who compiled 100 or more victories. So earlier in the winter he passed the 100-win mark.
“You see that board, I want to be on there,” he said. “I’ve been here four years, I better get my name on there. A pretty big deal for me.”
He ended with 112 career victories.
Back for more?
This year’s state champions from Randolph County were Eastern Randolph’s Randleman’s Braxton Walker (2A, 215), Trinity’s Aiden Burkholder (2A, 106) and Lawson Coltrane (2A, 165), Wheatmore’s Ayden Sumners (2A, 126) and Dominic Hittepole (2A, 175), Eastern Randolph’s David Lambright (1A, 126) and Maddox Carson (1A, 285), and Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Lorenzo Alston (1A, 157) and Michael Shropshire (1A, 215).
Of that group, only Walker and Coltrane are seniors. That could bode well for the future.
“We can build off it and they’re both coming back,” Wheatmore coach Kyle Spencer said of his champions.
Alston won his third state title.
