Have a couple of different things to say before we dig into South Carolina four time state champions and how they did collegiately.
I want to say that I came across a blog that one of the four timers wrote & he came right out and took issue with the fact that South Carolina had so few collegiate wrestling opportunities. At the time he wrote the blog, the only two wrestling opportunities in the state were The Citadel & Anderson. Today, things are different. Anderson no longer has a wrestling program, but the growth of collegiate wrestling over the past 18 years has been exponential. Between restorations & brand new programs, we've seen a total of 8 new programs. Two NAIA, four NCAA DII & two NCAA DI. I bring this up with specific purpose.
In the minds of some, it doesn't matter whether a state provides collegiate opportunities or not. If a wrestler, such as a four time state champion is good enough, he'll end up getting opportunity elsewhere. I think it does matter. So did one of the wrestlers I'll bring up here in a bit. I think it does enter an athlete's mind when he/she realizes that there are a ton of football opportunities at home, but very few wrestling opportunities. I think it does make a difference. I'm not going to pretend like South Carolina is some great wrestling state, because it isn't, but I will argue that I think had Furman, South Carolina State & especially Clemson kept their programs, the atmosphere would certainly be different.
Speaking of Clemson, some of their best football players the last 15 years have been wrestlers. They ought to give thanks be reinstating their program.
Here are their four time state champions and how they did in college.....
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| Carl Van Sewell |
South Carolina's first four time High School State champion was Carl Van Sewell of Airport, who won his titles form 75'-78'. To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college.
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| James McKinney |
James McKinney of Buford won four South Carolina High School State titles from 78'-81'. To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college.
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| Barnell Mack |
Barnell Mack won four South Carolina High School state titles from 78'-81' for Swansea. To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college.
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| Dan Wirnsberger |
Representing Geer, Dan Wirnsberger won four South Carolina High School State titles from 87'-90'. He competed for Michigan State in college where he was a three time All American earning a 4th place finish in 1993 as a sophomore, an 8th place finish in 1994 as a junior and a 2nd place finish as a senior in 1995. He went 120-44.
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| Robby Bell |
Robby Bell (our blogger from above) won four South Carolina High School State crowns from 95'-98' for Hillcrest. He competed for the Citadel where he was a SOCON runner-up in 2001 as a junior.
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| Ben Connell |
Ben Connell won four South Carolina High School State titles for Lugoff-Elgin from 97'-00'. He started off his collegiate career at Oklahoma & then transferred to North Carolina.
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| Matt Leach |
Matt Leach won four South Carolina High School State championships for Eastside from 03'-06'. He wrestled collegiately for a while at The Citadel before deciding that college wrestling was no longer for him in which he transferred to Clemson.
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| J.C. Oddo |
Representing Eastside, J.C. Oddo won four South Carolina High School state titles from 04'-07'. Collegiately he competed for The Citadel where he was a two time SOCON finalist his sophomore & junior seasons.
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| Dalton Harper |
Dalton Harper won four South Carolina State High School championships for Chesterfield from 05'-08'. From what I have found, he did not wrestle in college.
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| Jonathan "Tig" Willard |
Tig Willard won four South Carolina High School State titles for Loris from 05'-08'. In college, he played Football for Clemson. During his career of 38 starts, he had a total of 207 tackles along with 3 sacks.
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| Corbin Martin |
Corbin Martin won four South Carolina High School State titles for Eastside from 05'-08'. He did not wrestle in college.
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| Eddie Coles |
Eddie Coles won four South Carolina High School State titles from 06'-09'. From what I have found, he did not wrestle in college.
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| Ian Harper |
Ian Harper won four South Carolina High School State titles for Chesterfield from 07'-10'. He wrestled collegiately for Anderson (S.C.) .
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| Aaron Hansen |
Representing Summerville, Aaron Hansen won four South Carolina High School State titles from 08'-11'. In college he wrestled for The Citadel. A SOCON finalist as a freshman in 2013, he took 3rd place in 2014 as a sophomore.
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| Jordan Wigger |
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| Clay Walker |
Clay Walker of Eastside won four South Carolina High School State titles between 11'-14'. He wrestled collegiately for Iowa Central.
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| John Van Slooten |
John Van Slooten won his first two South Carolina High School State titles for St. James in 11' & 12'. He won title #3 for Waccamaw & title #4 for Summerville. Collegiately he started off at Chadron State & then transferred to Bluefield.
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| Gage Cervenka |
Gage Cervenka who won four South Carolina High School State titles from 12'-15' for Emerald, is another one we ended up losing to Clemson Football.
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| Cole Murphy |
Cole Murphy won four South Carolina High School State titles for Liberty from 15'-18'. Although he did attend The Citadel, I don't believe he wrestled.
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Got a few mysteries on my hands here with four timers from South Carolina. Can't find didn't squat to say one way or the other on the following....
A.J. Dickerson of West Oak
David Hansberger of Byrnes
Chris Compton of Byrnes
Kaleem Heard of Northwestern
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Kaleb Haven of North Central & Andrew Jackson is currently at Nweberry
Chandler Smalley of Abbeville is currently at Lander
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