Wes Brown
Jeff Linville | The News
Defending 2012 state champion Wes Brown, seen here wrestling Mount Airy’s Isaiah King earlier in the season, took second place Saturday in the state wrestling tournament in Greensboro.
Levi Slate
GREENSBORO — On Saturday, wrestlers from all over North Carolina battled again as they do each year in Greensboro sweating, strategizing and enduring through six brief minutes that seemed like a life-time. Three local wrestlers from the Northwest 1A/2A Conference made the championship final round but in the end could not pull out the State Wrestling Championship title.
Last year, Wes Brown won the 2012 state title for the Surry Central Golden Eagles, but this year he could not pull out a win against Chass Delgado of Trinity at 285 pounds.
The match went into three overtimes and ended 6-3 with Delgado becoming state champion in the weight class. Brown kept having trouble with his head gear coming off in the first period, and Delgado was in the lead when Brown battled back from behind and the match went into overtime.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Wes Brown and the great job that he’s done for four years,” said Coach Stephen Priddy.
Coaches, family and spectators looked on with cheers and tears, shouting encouragement from the stands as Brown, Levi Slate of North Surry and Eddie Nunez of East Surry patiently gave hard fought efforts in the first-place matches for the Northwest 1A/2A conference on mats lined down the center of the Greensboro Coliseum.
Greyhound Slate placed second in the state in the 182-pound weight class after battling against Parker VonEgidy of the Piedmont Conference. He lost to VonEgidy 28-12 after withstanding a hard blow to the nose in the first period.
Nunez at 106 pounds fought hard for the Cardinals in the 1A division against Zach Orr of Robbinsville. Orr kept building the lead on Nunez, but Nunez did cut moves and kept up the fight until eventually being pinned in the third period.
The Greyhounds had four wrestlers finish in the top six. Slate got a second place, Austin McMillian third, Austin Collins fourth and Tristen Brannock finished sixth.
Head Coach Eric Jessup of the North Surry Greyhounds said he was pleased with Slate’s effort in the championship match and the Greyhound effort as a whole in this year’s state wrestling finals.
The NCHSAA State Champion Wrestling was divided from the smallest to the largest schools in North Carolina with 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A schools competing. Saturday’s matches began at 9 a.m.
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