Cary wrestlers celebrate after winning the NCHSAA 4A team wrestling championship on February 21, 2009, at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem. (Photo by Grant Halverson)
Feb 25, 2010
The Greensboro Coliseum will be the site this weekend for one of the largest single high school sporting events in the Southeast.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association's annual state wrestling championships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, bringing together over 600 of the state's best prep grapplers for two full days of competition. Almost 1,300 individual matches will be contested over the course of the event en route to crowning 56 different individual champions. That means there is one winner in each of the NCHSAA's 14 weight divisions and four different classifications.
For the first time, the 1-A classification will have its own individual weight class champions as the sport has continued to grow. This will also be the first time the wrestling championships have been in Greensboro since 1994. For the past seven years they have been hosted by the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem.
Wrestling will start at 9 a.m. on Friday and will run until Saturday evening with the consolation and championship finals starting at 6 p.m. This is the 23rd year that the wrestling championships have been "classified"; prior to 1987, all wrestlers, regardless of the size of the school, competed for a single title.
The NCHSAA, with a strong tradition in wrestling, has been offering a championship in the sport since the 1930's.
Cary has won the team tournament championship at the 4-A level five consecutive times and six of the last seven years, although the Imps could be challenged by Winston-Salem Parkland. Parkland has won the last three 3-A crowns but has moved up to 4-A in the new realignment. Orange has won the last two 1-A/2-A tournament titles but now is 3-A.
Earlier this month, Parkland (4-A), Concord Jay Robinson (3-A), Newport Croatan (2-A) and West Wilkes (1-A) won their respective classifications in the NCHSAA dual team championships and will obviously be very competitive in the tournament.
Wendy's is the presenting sponsor for the NCHSAA sports program. The host city sponsors for the wrestling championships include the Greensboro Sports Commission, the Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Greensboro Sports Council and CSG Carolinas.
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