SCMAT Exclusive Wrestling Article 1-6-25
Top 10 SC Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
Decade 4 - 2000-2009
Summerville wrestling with Coach Kenny Walker (right)
SCMAT continues our Exclusive series covering the Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time.
Unique aspects of this Decade - 2000-2009
In this decade: 2A-1A started State Duals in 2001.
Coach Jim Barnes (Rock Hill) retired as head wrestling coach after winning 4A State Duals in 2000. He won 17 state championships (14 at Rock Hill, 3 at Airport)
In 4A, Coach Kenny Walker (Summerville) had the team of the decade, with a streak of 61 consecutive dual meet wins between 2001-2003.
In 3A, Coach Jack Kosmicki (Eastside) would have his first team championship - the wrestling dynasty continues today.
In 2A-1A, Coach Lance Abernathy (Chesterfield) would build a wrestling powerhouse that competed with "the bigs".
Coach B.D. LaPrad would become the first and only SC wrestling coach to win state titles at three different schools - 1979 Irmo (4A), 2003 Dutch Fork (4A), 2007 and 2010 Fort Dorchester (4A).
In 2000, 2A-1A had the first and only Traditional Team State Championship in SC wrestling history that ended in a tie - Loris and Crescent shared the state title. This was the last year of Traditional State determining the team title in 2A-1A.
In 2000, Ben Connell (Lugoff-Elgin) was named the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's 2000 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award winner - the National award winner! See more on Ben Connell below:
SCMAT Exclusive - Ben Connell
Let's take a look at this decade of SC high school wrestling
Decade 4 - 2000-2009 - State Champions
NOTE - in the comparison grid we add a new column for "Dual" or "Trad" (for Traditional) as the path to the State Championship.
If you are reading this article from your cell phone (mobile), you may find the team comparison grid below will be better to read turning your phone sideways to wide format.
Trad Trad Year Class State Champion Title Coach Record Place Pts. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Placers ---- ----- -------------- ----- --------------- ------ ----- ----- --- --- --- --- ----
2009 4A Rock Hill Dual Cain Beard 26-2 2nd 82.0 1 3 1 0 5 recap
2009 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 32-5 1st 127.5 2 2 2 3 9 recap
2009 2A Abbeville Dual Anthony Martin 26-4 2nd 90.0 3 1 1 0 5 recap
2009 1A Chesterfield Dual Will Gainey 50-5 1st 97.0 2 2 0 2 6 recap
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2008 4A Summerville Dual Kenny Walker 24-2 1st 139.0 2 3 4 0 9 recap
2008 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 31-5 1st 171.0 5 3 1 0 9 recap
2008 2A Loris Dual Thomas Britt 32-8 2nd 78.5 2 1 1 0 4 recap
2008 1A Chesterfield Dual Lance Abernathy 45-2 1st 117.0 3 0 1 2 6 recap
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2007 4A Fort Dorchester Dual B.D. LaPrad 26-1 2nd 106.5 3 2 1 0 6 recap
2007 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 24-6 1st 145.5 6 1 0 0 7 recap
2007 2A Loris Dual Thomas Britt 36-7 3rd 76.5 3 0 1 1 5 recap
2007 1A Chesterfield Dual Lance Abernathy 42-5 2nd 103.5 4 1 0 1 6 recap
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2006 4A Summerville Dual Kenny Walker 25-2 1st 108.5 4 0 2 0 6 recap
2006 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 30-0 1st 156.0 5 1 1 2 9 recap
2006 2A-1A Crescent Dual Chris Strickland 28-0 5th 59.0 0 1 2 1 4 recap
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2005 4A Summerville Dual Kenny Walker 24-0 1st 126.5 3 4 0 0 7 recap
2005 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 19-1 1st 177.0 7 2 0 0 9 recap
2005 2A-1A Chesterfield Dual Lance Abernathy 24-2 1st 103.0 2 2 1 1 6 recap
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2004 4A Summerville Dual Kenny Walker 19-2 1st 153.0 6 0 1 1 8 recap
2004 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 23-0 1st 174.5 5 3 1 0 9 recap
2004 2A-1A Chesterfield Dual Lance Abernathy 17-2 1st 120.5 4 0 2 1 7 recap
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2003 4A Dutch Fork Dual B.D. LaPrad 18-1 2nd 91.5 3 1 1 0 5 recap
2003 3A Lugoff-Elgin Dual Kevin Knoerr 14-1 1st 95.5 2 1 3 0 6 recap
2003 2A-1A Cheraw Dual Brad Porter 11-4 1st 115.0 2 3 1 0 6 recap
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2002 4A Summerville Dual Kenny Walker 20-0 2nd 123.5 3 2 1 1 7 recap
2002 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 18-1 2nd 88.0 2 1 1 1 5 recap
2002 2A-1A Swansea Dual Chad Meredith 15-4 1st 129.5 3 3 1 0 7 recap
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2001 4A Summerville Dual Kenny Walker 23-0 2nd 100.5 1 1 3 0 5 recap
2001 3A Lugoff-Elgin Dual Joe Connell 18-4 1st 135.0 4 2 0 0 6 recap
2001 2A-1A Woodruff Dual Chad Singleton 25-3 13th 46.0 0 1 0 1 2 recap
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2000 4A Rock Hill Dual Jim Barnes 20-0 1st 5 2 1 0 8 recap
2000 3A Eastside Dual Jack Kosmicki 18-1 ??? 3 2 3 0 8 recap
2000 2A-1A Loris TIE Trad Michael Morris 23-0 1st 83.0 2 0 2 2 6 recap
2000 2A-1A Crescent TIE Trad Russell Blackston 21-0 1st 83.0 1 2 0 3 6 recap
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Analysis of the Decade - 2000-2009
From 2007-2012, 1A and 2A would have their own State Duals. A Team Champion was crowned in each classification. 2A-1A would continue to hold State Individuals together.
A great SCMAT Exclusive from 3 years ago is shared below, covering the 2000 wrestling season in 2A-1A
SCMAT Exclusive - Part 3, 2000 2A-1A Wrestling State Tournament
Great teams set records and generate great wrestlers ... let's take a look at some of the highlights from this decade when it comes to this topic:
Chesterfield became the first SC wrestling team to reach 50 dual wins in a season - 2009 Chesterfield was 50-5. Eight years after Chesterfield's achievement, Rock Hill would go 52-8 in 2017 to establish the new state record for Single Season Dual Meet Wins.
Eastside would win 6 titles between 2004-2009, setting the SC record at the time for Longest Consecutive State Championships Streak. Eastside has since broken their own record with a current active streak of 9 in a row between 2016-2024.
In this decade, SC would have the only four wrestlers in our history become 4x State Individual Champions as well as be 4x Team Champions:
2A-1A - Ian Harper - Chesterfield (2007-2010)
3A - Eddie Coles - Eastside (2006-2009)
3A - Corbin Martin, Eastside (2005-2008)
3A - J.C. Oddo, Eastside (2004-2007)
In this decade, SC would have the only brother combination to both finish as 4x state champions:
Ian Harper - Chesterfield (2010 135 1st, 2009 125 1st, 2008 119 1st, 2007 112 1st - 2A-1A)
Dalton Harper - Chesterfield (2008 140 1st, 2007 130 1st, 2006 125 1st, 2005 112 1st - 2A-1A)
In this decade, we would see the first time that three brothers would win State Individual Titles in one year, as well as have their Team win the State Championship. In 2023, this feat happened again with brothers Peyton Schrader, Colt Schrader and Lane Schrader (Eastside 4A). See the first-time-feat for the Martin brothers below, with Eastside being the 2005 3A State Champions:
Bryce Martin - Eastside 3A (Fr. 2005 103 1st)
Corbin Martin - Eastside 3A (Fr. 2005 112 1st)
Jordan Martin - Eastside 3A (Sr. 2005 152 1st)
Crossing over this decade, a state record of 4 brothers all winning state titles occurred twice:
Beck brothers - Travis, Chad, Weston and Seth - Rock Hill (2006-2011)
Connell brothers - Ben, Campbell, Will and Zach - Lugoff-Elgin (1997-2012)
In this decade, the first two combinations of Father and Son(s) both winning Individual State Titles in S.C. occurred:
James Young (father) was state champion in 1974 at Summerville and Andrew Young (son) would win three state titles at Summerville, 2002-2004.
Arthur Young (father) was state champion in 1976 at Summerville and Michael Young (son) would win two state titles at Fort Dorchester, 2009-2010.
In this decade, SC would generate two wrestlers with State Individual Championships that would become future NFL Pro Bowlers:
Sharod "Roddy" White - James Island (2001 189 1st, 2000 152 1st, 1999 130 4th, 1998 112 2nd) - wrestled for Coach Albert Spalviero
Robert Quinn - Fort Dorchester (2008 285 1st, 2007 285 1st, 2006 275 1st, 2005 215 3rd) - wrestled for Coach B.D. LaPrad
Roddy White was a four-time NFL Pro Bowler and Robert Quinn was a two-time NFL Pro Bowler
Several great articles on Roddy White, highlighting his James Island wrestling days:
Roddy White - Catch Me Now
Roddy White has wrestling roots
Decade considerations for Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
SCMAT considers a number of teams in this decade as Top 10 considerations.
National Wrestling Hall of Fame (NWHOF) Inductees from the SC Chapter noted below (for NWHOF members on the teams being considered).
Coaches and fans will need to weight in on the peak year for each of these teams:
Summerville - 6 state titles - Coach Kenny Walker, the prevailing team in 4A
Eastside - 8 state titles - upcoming 2025 NWHOF Inductee Coach Jack Kosmicki, the dynasty had launched
Rock Hill - 2 state titles - NWHOF Inductee Coach Jim Barnes starting the decade (2000) and Coach Cain Beard finishing the decade (2009)
Fort Dorchester - 1 state title - NWHOF Inductee Coach B.D. LaPrad
Dutch Fork - 1 state title - NWHOF Inductee Coach B.D. LaPrad
Cheraw - 1 state title - NWHOF Inductee Coach Brad Porter
Chesterfield - 5 state titles - Coach Lance Abernathy (the first 4 of these titles)
Lugoff-Elgin - 2 state titles
Loris - 3 state titles
Crescent - 2 state titles
Projected schedule for each decade in this Exclusive series:
December 2 - Decade 1 - 1969-1979 - Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
December 23 - Decade 2 - 1980-1989 - Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
December 30 - Decade 3 - 1990-1999 - Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
January 6 - Decade 4 - 2000-2009 - Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
January 20 - Decade 5 - 2010-2019 - Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
February 3 - Decade 6 - 2020-2024 - Top 10 S.C. Wrestling Seasons & Teams of All Time
If you notice any updates related to the State Champions above, please send an email to scmat@hotmail.com
thanks,
Mark Buford
Send any updates or feedback to scmat@hotmail.com
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