LowcoSports.com
Battery Creek’s Theo Johnson and Nate Najar and Beaufort High’s Colton Freeman were among the nine Lowco wrestlers who claimed state titles and the 25 Lowco grapplers who earned all-state honors on Saturday at Florence Center.
The trio was joined by Hilton Head’s Bryce Stephenson and five May River wrestlers — Stephano Calderon, Marcus Foulk, Thomas Brough, Blake Butler, and Vivian Urriola — helped the Sharks repeat as Class 4A traditional state champions at the SCHSL Wrestling Championships.
Najar, a senior, breezed through the 150-pound bracket in Class 3A, winning by major decision, technical fall, and pin to reach the finals, where he earned an 18-12 decision over Woodruff’s Joshua Mulak. Johnson, a junior, battled his way to the 120-pound finals and was able to grind out a 7-6 win over Crescent’s Luke Gray to capture a state title just two years after going 6-36 as a freshman.
Freeman capped off his tremendous junior season with his second state title — he won a SCISA title as an eighth-grader in 2023 before missing his freshman year due to injury and placing second at 190 pounds a year ago. Freeman left no doubt, winning all four of his matches by pin and needing just 132 seconds to record his first three pins and punch his ticket to the finals, where he pinned defending 215-pound champion Jarrett Clinkscales of Westside in the second period.
Beaufort senior Olesya Mullins also reached the finals, knocking off two-time state champion Madi Beck of Rock Hill in the semifinals to earn a rematch with Conway’s Ella Sheppard, who defeated Mullins in the 105-pound final just as she did at the Lower State qualifier earlier this month. Mullins, who will wrestle at Southwestern Michigan College next season, suffered a knee injury midseason and was unsure whether her season was over, but she worked her way back to earn her third state runner-up finish — one in Michigan and two in South Carolina.
Bridges Prep’s Kevin Summers (175) and Whale Branch’s Javaree Bartley (132) both capped their careers with all-state honors, placing fourth in Class 2A-1A.
