ROCKINGHAM — When the high school wrestling season began just prior to Thanksgiving, veteran head coach Earl Nicholson didn’t know the amount of weight his underclassmen wrestlers would have to carry.
But with the 2018-19 season now in the books, he feels confident that the program made a step in the right direction all while enduring some growing pains.
Richmond wrapped up its season in last week’s North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championship tournament in Greensboro. The lone Raider to make it was senior Skylar Standridge (220-pound), who lost both of his matches.
Several other wrestlers just missed out, with juniors Joseph Nicholson (113-pound) and Austin Gallops (152-pound) coming up one win short in the regional round. But for Coach Nicholson, the season wasn’t about winning state championships as much as it was building the program for the seasons to come.
“I was hoping to have a better season than we had this year, but we didn’t get some seniors and football players to come out,” Nicholson explained. “Marcus Hester moved to Tennessee and was a state qualifier there, so we were down some guys.
“But even after all of that, we were still able to win 22 matches,” he added. “Every time I looked at the lineup, we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It was a successful season considering everything we went through. We were competitive in most matches and it was a solid season.”
Competing in tournaments all across the state, the Raiders tallied a 22-14 overall record, and finished fourth out of eight teams in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings. A trio of wrestlers, Gallops, Nicholson and freshman Andres Sanchez, earned All-SAC honors, with Gallops winning the SAC title in his weight class.
Nicholson and Gallops were Richmond’s strongest two wrestlers over the course of the season, going 48-5 and 37-9, respectively. Nicholson set the single-season program record for wins, as he also tied the program all-time wins record with 118 victories. That mark was set by Josh Pryce in 2009.
There were also several other wrestlers who impressed, including Sanchez’s 25-8 overall record in the 106-pound weight class. He came up two wins shy of making the state tournament during his first year on the mat, as did junior Steven Morales (132-pound). Morales finished 28-10, while sophomore Bryant Coll (126-pound) wrapped up his season with a 26-14 mark.
“Joey and Austin are the two guys that other teams fear the most,” Nicholson said. “Steven and Bryant are both going to be special next year, especially Bryant. He’s still learning how to wrestle but he’s putting in the work to get better.
“Carson Jordan, for example, didn’t win a lot of matches this year, but he got a good foundation at the varsity level,” Nicholson added of the sophomore 138-pounder. “He’ll be a 20-win wrestler next year for sure. Skylar got it together at regionals after he couldn’t condition due to injuries, and I was really happy for him. Austin missed states by one match and the guy he lost to finished sixth.”
Something else that was new this season for the Richmond wrestling program was the addition of the middle school wrestling team. Coached by Richard Kerekes and Andre Ellerbe, the middle school Raiders won the Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference championship in its inaugural season.
It also saw four individual wrestlers in Ty Murray (85-pound), Tykeem Ellerbe (128-pound), Dylan Locklear (197-pound) and Sebastian Fullwood (252-pound) earn conference titles in their respective weight class.
The start of the middle school program, coupled with a successful first season, was a pleasant surprise for Nicholson. He also anticipates the work at the younger level to help make the varsity program stronger in the coming seasons.
“A lot of coaches don’t understand that I’ve had to coach many of my wrestlers from scratch,” Nicholson explained. “The middle school program is a big plus because it’s giving the kids some experience before they get to high school. There are some decent athletes on that team and I think they’ll be a really big help to us in the future.”
