ASHEBORO — East Surry’s Eli Becker became the latest Cardinal wrestler to medal at the state championship meet by finishing third on June 26.
The sophomore upset two higher-seeded wrestlers in the 182-pound bracket, including one from the host school Uwharrie Charter, to win a bronze medal in his first trip to the 1A State Championship.
An East Surry Cardinal being honored on the state championship podium has become the standard under coach Darrin Haywood. Since Haywood took over the program in 2003, East Surry has put a wrestler on the podium 30 times. This includes three state champions: Trinton Love (171) in 2004, Markus Brown (189) in 2010 and Jacob Fregia (160) in 2012.
The only three years in which East Surry wrestlers qualified for the state championship but did not medal were 2005, 2009 and 2016.
Most recently, the 2020 season was the only one during Haywood’s tenure that East Surry didn’t have any state qualifiers. The Cardinals rectified this by having two qualifiers in 2021: Eli Becker and fellow sophomore Daniel Villasenor.
“I’m very proud of both of those kids, especially with the long day they had,” Haywood said. “They really stepped up given the situation. The season was pushed back and shortened, and the Regional Final was different too. It was one loss and you go home and no wrestlebacks like usual.
“They’re both young, but showed a lot of maturity in both regionals and states.”
One of the last Cardinals honored at the state tournament prior to the 2021 season was also named Becker. Eli’s older brother, Joseph, finished fourth in the 170-pound bracket as a senior in 2019.
The 1A State Championship was held at Uwharrie Charter Academy at 3:00 p.m. June 26. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in the morning at Glenn High School, but an appearance by the fire marshal forced the 1A division to seek other options.
“It was definitely a wild ride,” Haywood said. “I do appreciate the coach from Uwharrie allowing us to go there, or else there’s no way we would have been able to wrestle Saturday.”
Becker qualified for the state championship by finishing third in the 1A West Regional Final. He came into Regionals with a 15-1 record, earned a first-round BYE then defeated Cherokee’s Ian Crowe (11-8) via first-period fall.
Becker suffered just his second loss of the season when he ran into Robbinsville’s Kage Williams (29-0). Williams went on to win both the West Regional and State Titles in the class with an undefeated record.
The Cardinal sophomore went on to defeat Avery County’s Dalton Towe, who came into the Regional final 22-0, for third place.
The dominance of the West showed in the state tournament as all four Westerners advanced to the semifinals. Becker did so by upsetting Rosewood’s Elijah Joyner (28-2), who started the year 28-0 and whose only prior loss was in the East Regional Championship.
Becker ran into Williams again in the state semifinals, losing via fall in the first period. The Cardinal made up for his loss by defeating Mountain Island Charter’s Bunmi Abudu (24-10) via 7-6 decision in the consolation finals.
“Eli just did a great job in his first state championship,” Haywood said. “He wrestled a fantastic third-place match and fought to the very end. He only lost three matches his sophomore year and two were to the State Champion; that’s pretty special.
“Eli always has a smile on his face, win or lose, but don’t let that fool you. He wants to win as bad as anybody and I’m excited to see how he grows moving forward.”
Villasenor qualified for the state meet by finishing fourth in the 195-pound bracket at regionals.
He entered the West Regional Championship with a 12-5 record. Villasenor defeated Mitchell’s Camron Cook (9-13) via second-period fall in the opening round, then defeated Swain County’s Blake Sain (18-7) via 8-7 decision in the quarterfinals.
Villasenor was defeated by Robbinsville’s Kyle Fink in the semifinal. Fink (25-3) went on to win both the Regional and State Titles.
The Cardinal faced a familiar foe in the consolation finals, falling to Mount Airy’s Edwin Agabo.
Villasenor met North Stanly junior and East Regional Champion Meliek Bryant (15-1) in the opening round. Villasenor fought hard but was defeated via fall in the second period. Bryant went on to finish second in the state behind Fink.
“I’m very proud of his effort,” Haywood said. “Here he is as a sophomore that weighs 173 or 174 pounds and he’s competing in the state tournament at 195. It was a great experience for him and I hope he can build off this.”
Nothing about the 2021 wrestling season was ideal, but Haywood said he was thankful that the kids even got to have a season since that wasn’t guaranteed at the start of the year.
The extended off-season between the 2020 and 2021 seasons will be followed by a shortened off-season preceding the 2021-22 school year. Haywood hopes this will prove helpful to not only his rising juniors that look to return to the State Championship Meet, but also those looking to qualify for the first time.
“This is fresh on their mind and I think that’s going to prove advantageous to them,” Haywood said. “They’ve been here now and seen what it’s like. Hopefully that motivates them to get back here and potentially improve the end result.“
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com