North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
The North Myrtle Beach Chiefs wrestling team capped a successful season with three second place finishers at the 4A state wrestling individual championships in Anderson, on February 22 and 23. The Chiefs also had a third place winner during the two-day event at the Anderson Civic center.
Second place winners were Jackie Gore in the 145 pound class, Chase Simmons in 170 and Curtis Wolfe in the 220 pound group. Malachi Black took third in the 285 pound group.
The Chiefs began quarterfinal competition on Friday with three out of five wins in their first matches. (145) Jackie Gore pinned ShyQuan Ferguson of South Pointe in 3:27. (170) Chase Simmons pinned Greer’s Ellison Flores in 5:39. (195) James Brisbane of Berea won a 6-4 decision over Chief Marcelous Livingston. (220) Curtis Wolfe pinned Hayden Lawter from Belton-Honea Path in 1:01. Chief Malachi Black was pinned by Immanuel Bush of Lancaster in the first period.
The two Chiefs who lost their first match dropped into the consolation round. The first match Chief winners all won their second matches to advance to the Saturday finals. Jackie Gore (145) won 10-5, Chase Simmons (170) won 6-2, and Curtis Wolfe pinned his opponent in 2:49.
Saturday’s consolation first round ended the competition for Marcelous Livingston (195) who lost a 3-2 decision to Lane Owenby from Midland Valley. However, Malachi Black (285) pinned JC Whisonant from Eastside in :33 to advance to the semifinals where he advanced to the finals with a 13-7 decision over Jake Morgan from South Pointe. Black then won third place when he pinned Immanuel Bush in 3:33.
Unfortunately, all three remaining Chiefs lost in their final matches. (145) Ben Maholtz from Eastside pinned Jackie Gore in1:06. Chase Simmons of NMB was pinned by Zeiren Riley of Travelers Rest in 5:04, and Gray Holmes of Travelers Rest pinned the Chiefs Curtis Wolfe in 4:29.
While not a team event per se, the Chiefs team score of 63 points was third overall for all teams in the competition.
Coach Chris Mazyck stated that he was proud of his team. “Our team has worked hard all year. Throughout the year we have been the underdog and our team came to practice and used that to fuel their desire to win. Jackie and Curtis won the lower state and Chase was second, Malachi third in the lower state. I know that we were hopeful of getting a couple of state championships but I’m proud of two seconds and a third from these young men. Chase was a sophomore and a surprise to get as far as he did. I know Jackie and Curtis expected better results, but that happens.”
“Malachi Black’s third place as a junior also shows a lot of promise for next year. Next year we will go in expecting to get better and our goal will be to get back to the state championship and win it. We have our work cut out for us. In the 14 weight classes, Eastside won seven of them. We want to compete with Eastside and as they say, in order to be the best, you have to beat the best. We know what we have to do, we just have to get the job done,” Mazyck said.
Mazyck stated that North Myrtle Beach High School was hosting the Best Western North Carolina-South Carolina All Star wrestling tournament this Friday and Saturday. Matches will start around 5 p.m. Friday and continue Saturday morning at 10 a.m. “Curtis Wolfe is looking forward to it. He really wants to redeem himself after not winning state,” Mazyck said.
