Varsity Wrestling lost to one of their rivals, Carolina Forest 60-15 on Tuesday in their last region match, but their strong season overall is sending them to the championships.

The team is disappointed with the overall result of the match.

“The outcome is obviously not what we wanted, but we did have some strong individual performances,” Coach Jeff Gibson said about the battle against Carolina Forest. 

Carolina Forest ended up placing 1st in the region and Socastee placed 2nd.

Socastee had some highlights during the match against Carolina Forest, including senior performances.

“Edwin Barrios at 157, getting a pin on his senior night…was awesome,” Coach Gibson said. “And he really picked up his end of the deal being a senior leader and coming out and getting the 6 points for the team pin.” 

Some of the wrestlers were underclassmen who were moved up for the match. 

“Brendan Maguire is close, he’s gonna be there filling in, Aven Price came out there and gave it his all, a freshman stepping into that position, wrestling one of the top of the kids in the state, it feels like he did all of what we could’ve asked of him,” Coach Gibson said.

The team is headed to the championships after many sacrifices from the guys who stepped up and the ones who have given it their all so far.

“To get us to the point, to wrestle for a championship, I think you can’t not mention Michael Kegler, I mean that kid’s wrestled hurt for a couple of weeks now, to get us to this point,” said Coach Gibby.

For the championships, the team will compete for the first two weeks of February in River Bluff, and then the team will head to individuals in Anderson, SC. The lower and upper state tournaments are on the same weekend, then the top four people from each weight class from each tournament advance to the state individual tournament.

The team is already looking forward to the next season, hoping for more people from the upcoming 9th-grade class. The program is also planning to expand into women’s wrestling. 

“We’re looking at fielding an all-girls team, which would be very exciting,” Coach Gibson said. “A lot of schools around the state have already started that this year, and we anticipate it being a fully recognized by the high school league next season.” 

 Some interest meetings will be held soon.

“It’s one of the fastest-growing sports for girls,” he said.