GREENSBORO — Their quests for a pair of state titles came up short for Chatham Charter’s Chandler Steele and Northwood’s Tyler Tracy over the weekend at the NCHSAA Individual Wrestling State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Tracy, wrestling in the 3A classification as a freshman, entered the tournament unbeaten at 42-0.
In the opening round Tracy disposed of Alex Barajas of Roanoke Rapids with an 8-0 Major Decision before taking a impressive 17-1 Technical Fall triumph over Joey Bruscino of Southeast Guilford in the quarterfinals.
This set up a battle on Saturday afternoon with Tracy tangling with Jahmez Settles of Wilson Fike. Tracy improved to 45-0 with a hard-fought 11-6 decision over Settles in the semifinal round match.
All that was left between Tracy and a state championship was a finals match with Marcus Jackson (58-1) of Central Cabarrus. The match would not end until almost 11:30 on Saturday evening and the result was a tough 15-1 Technical Fall defeat at 2:32 for Tracy, who closed the season at 45-1.
“What an incredible run for Tyler,” said Northwood coach Jason Amy. “To go 45-1 in your freshman season and advance to the state title match is phenomenal. I know he’s a bit disappointed right now, but he will learn from it and will get better and better. We couldn’t be prouder of him.”
In 1A, an elusive state title continued for Steele as the junior advanced to the state title match only to come up agonizingly short again.
Wrestling at 126 pounds, Steele opened the tournament with a quarterfinal fall victory in 4:49 over Zane Lucksavage of Hayesville.
In the semifinals, Steele outlasted Jayden Nowell of Robbinsville with a 6-2 decision to move into the finals.
That finals match pitted Steele versus Jonas Trejo of Swain County and in the end Trejo proved too tough and pinned Steele in 1:31.
Steele closed the season at 32-7 while Trejo, a senior, went out at 41-8 and with the state title for the Maroon Devils.