The latest SCHSL Realignment will definitely impact this wrestling season ... in some ways it is great for the sport of wrestling in SC ... and in some ways, not so great.

See the SCHSL 2024-2026 Realignment document below:

The South Carolina High School League voted to split Class 5A into two divisions for the upcoming realignment period.

The SCHSL will be crowning two 5A state champions for every sport for the 2024-2026 school years.

The split will affect the 5A Wrestling State Duals by breaking up the 5A schools into Division 1 and Division 2.

The state's 26 largest 5A schools will compete in Division I; the remaining 28 schools will compete in Division II.

Creating a 6A classification in the future is likely, though this would require an amendment to the SCHSL constitution.

The 5A State Individual Tournament is projected to have the greatest depth of Returners in S.C. History ... see the numbers below for each Classification:

New location for State Individuals

With the need to triple the spectator capacity, the SCHSL Wrestling "Individual Championships" will move from the Anderson Civic Center to the Florence Center. To make this move to the new venue, the wrestling postseason moved up a week for both individual and state dual championships. The SCHSL Wrestling State Individual Championships at the Florence Center will be on February 21-22, 2025. The Florence Center in Florence, SC is a 10,000-seat multipurpose arena.

The Carolina Coliseum (Columbia) was the largest venue (12,401 seating) to ever hold the SCHSL State Wrestling Tournament - hosting our state tournament in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

For a list of all the prior 56 seasons and venue locations, see the link below:

SC Wrestling Individual State Tournament Locations

Key coaching changes

Though we have had a number of coaching changes to begin this season, several key 5A schools have high expectations to make a Top 5 or Top 10 impact with new coaches:

Chapin - Coach Mason Marshall
Indian Land - Coach Ryan Shaw
Fort Dorchester - Coach Rashad Palmer
Nation Ford - Coach Dan Snell

And several schools added Girls head wrestling coaches to continue growing the sport and developing these programs:

Byrnes Girls - Coach Brandy Green
South Pointe Girls - Coach David Strait
River Bluff Girls - Coach Luke Jordan

Returning 2x and 3x state champions

In one of the strongest seasons of accomplished Returners, the SCHSL has 17 returning 2x and 3x state champions to recognize below:

in 5A:
Conner Beaudin - Byrnes (Jr., 2024 138 1st, 2023 126 1st)
Preston White - Chapin (Jr., 2024 113 1st, 2023 106 1st)
Enahjay Fowler - Dorman (Sr., 2024 285 1st, 2023 285 1st)
George Maholtz - Eastside (Sr., 2024 150 1st, 2023 145 1st, 2022 126 1st - 4A)
Peyton Schrader - Eastside (Jr., 2024 157 1st, 2023 126 1st - 4A)
Richard Springs - Fort Dorchester (Sr., 2024 120 1st, 2023 113 1st, 2022 106 1st)
Cason Howle - Greenwood (Sr., 2024 190 1st, 2023 182 1st, 2022 170 1st - 4A)
Josh Horn - Indian Land (Jr., 2024 120 1st, 2023 106 1st - 4A)

in 4A:
Jackson Chavis - Hartsville (Sr., 2024 285 1st, 2023 220 2nd, 2022 220 1st)

in 3A:
Jayden Morris - Belton-Honea Path (Sr., 2024 126 1st, 2023 126 1st, 2022 120 1st)
Marcus Thaxton - West-Oak (Sr., 2024 157 1st, 2023 145 1st)

in 2A-1A:
Luke Johannes - High Point Academy (Sr., 2024 126 1st, 2023 120 3rd, 2022 106 1st)
Alex Allison - Liberty (Jr., 2024 106 1st, 2023 106 1st)
J.T. Spence - Liberty (Sr., 2024 175 1st, 2023 170 1st)

in Girls:
Jada Lawrence - Bluffton Girls (Sr., 2024 145 1st, 2023 145 1st, 2022 153 3rd)
Tiyanna Mack - Blythewood Girls (Sr., 2024 130 1st, 2023 132 1st)
Bianca Connell - Mauldin Girls (Jr., 2024 155 1st, 2023 152 1st)

Next week on 9-23-24, SCMAT will have Season Preview #2 and cover the 5A classification.

If you notice any updates related to the Season Preview above, please send an email to scmat@hotmail.com

thanks,

Mark Buford

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