LUMBERTON — For the first time in eight years, Robeson County has four wrestling teams hitting the mat, and even more history being made as Purnell Swett and St. Pauls have several female wrestlers that will compete at times in each team’s lineup as well as female wrestling tournaments across the state.
With a lot of attention coming into this season, here’s a look at what each school brings to the table for the 2019-20 wrestling season.
Fairmont
The Golden Tornadoes bring in a lot of inexperience to their first season on the mat, and the main focus leading into this season is on growth.
“We’re just learning and trying to get better. It’s a young program and we are wrestling people that have been wrestling five, six years,” Fairmont coach Justin Sweet said. “We are just trying to get better each week and get the fundamentals down pat.”
While there is some newcomers with little to no wrestling experience, a lot has been placed on sophomore Derrick Baker on the mat.
“He’s been wrestling about since he was born really,” Sweet said of Baker. Baker is currently 12-0 on the mat this season.
Other that Sweet expects to build the base of the program in its first season are Roy Oxendine, Kaleb Pulley and Christopher Stevenson. Oxendine is one of two seniors on the team, while the other two wrestlers make up the large corps of underclassmen for the program.
“The rest have been wrestling about a month or two and that’s all their experience. They’ve been getting better each week,” Sweet said. “Some of them have bad habits and we are trying to break bad habits and build better habits and I can see us getting better each week.”
The team consists mostly of around 15 wrestlers that are still in search of the program’s first win.
“I would love to get that first win and build off that, but really I just want to get better,” Sweet said. “It’s a learning process.”
Lumberton
The sky’s the limit for the Lumberton wrestling program, according to coach Jamie Bell, and the reigning county coach of the year thinks his team is starting to realize what is capable.
“(We can do) whatever we put our minds to,” Bell said. “I think this past weekend showed them that whatever they want to do, they’ve just got to put their minds to it and do it.”
The Pirates hosted the first two rounds of the state dual team championships last year, falling in the first round, and returning a large group of key contributors from a year ago. A large piece of the returners includes a rising junior class around Darrionte McLaurin, Kenson Sinclair and Davieyon King-McCallister.
“These are guys that have been workhorses, especially the junior group now that they’ve been a part of our system and they’ve been wrestling year round for almost three years,” Bell said. “Some have even been a part of these national teams and bigger teams and you can see them fitting into these bigger roles you would see on a team.”
Experience also comes from a senior group, led by Justin Kelly and Josh Doyle. This year’s team has the hole of filling an exodus of several strong wrestlers in heavier weight classes that graduated.
“They are easily replacing the leadership we had last year, just on experience,” Bell said.
As far as filling the void in the lineup, Bell said the ones rising up to starters on the varsity lineup are ones he puts trust in.
“The strength of the lineup is right there in the meat of the lineup. We’ve got a lot of experience from 113 to 170,”Bell said. ”We’re not as strong as we were in the heavier weights, but we’ve got quality guys that are going to go in there and be role players. I’m not worried too much.”
Purnell Swett
Two years removed from finishing as regional runner-up at the state dual team championships, the Purnell Swett wrestling team is showing trends back in that direction after a down year last season.
“I see us doing a lot better than we did last year. We are off to a good start,” Purnell Swett second-year coach Rashaad Saunders said. “We have about 30 members on the team this year and they are doing a great job. They come to practice and they are eager to learn about the sport. That’s where it starts at.
“I definitely think we can place top 10 in the region right now. That’s a suitable goal for them.”
The Rams welcome more than 10 returners from last year, with a focus put on junior Cayden Scott, who was a state qualifier as a freshman, and seniors Darrian Jenkins, Zane Kelly and Tim Kamalu on the forefront of the program.
“I’m looking forward to those four to carry the program,” Saunders said.
Work to get a whole lineup together starts with getting players to fill the voids that currently exist in the lineup.
“We are waiting on some of the guys to get their weight down in a healthy way,” Saunders said. “By January, everybody should be in their proper weight classes and then we should have a pretty full lineup.”
Purnell Swett and St. Pauls both have several girls that are training alongside the boys, and wrestling in their own events. There has been occasions where girls will have to go against the boys.
“It’s grown tremendously and it’s like overnight. We went from two to eight girls,” Saunders said. “It brings a different atmosphere in the room. The girls are so anxious about learning.”
Saunders lists senior Haliya Williamson and juniors Diamond Mitchell and Peyton Brayboy as female wrestlers he expects to represent the program well in tournaments this year.
St. Pauls
Numbers have been in St. Pauls’ favor this season as the program welcomes Fairmont into its conference to join the Bulldogs and Clinton.
“It helps with growing the sport. That’s what we are trying to do as coaches here in Robeson County,” St. Pauls coach Tony McMillan said.
The Bulldogs have around 25 wrestlers this year, helping to fill in the lineup. In years past, forfeits have been critical in dual meets for St. Pauls, and McMillan doesn’t see that as an issue this year.
“We’ve got a good little mix,” McMillan said. “We are right there at it. We have almost every weight class filled. Some of them are rookies but the weight classes are full.”
McMillan expects big things this season from heavyweight Ethan Roberts and the middle weight classes from Damien Ortiz, Algensi Calderon and Damien Dean. The team does not return anyone who was a state qualifier a year ago.
“We are looking forward to a good season,” McMillan said.
On the girls side, the benefit from high numbers has helped with more female wrestlers as well.
“We could basically have half a team,” McMillan said. “They like competing against the girls. The plan is to take as many as they want to go to girls state. We will see what the qualifications are.”
Brianna Gray, Raven Jacobs, Jaelene Reyes and Vianney Martinez have already posted wins this season for St. Pauls on the girls side.
