Swain will send three to compete for state wrestling

While Swain wrestling will not be in a position to compete for a team state championship, three Maroon Devils performed well enough individually to earn berths in Saturday’s state bracket. Adam Cotterman’s fourth place finish in the 132-pound weight class, Gabe Lillard’s third place showing in the 170-class, and Conner Driver’s fourth-place heavyweight finish earned them qualifications.

“All three are guys that we thought should qualify just based on their body of work and how talented they are,” said head coach Adam Jaimez. “They are definitely ones we expected to pull through and come through that tournament and to be available for the next weekend. We were in position to get a couple of more kids in but we just had some tough draws and tough luck and it just didn’t work out that way unfortunately.”

Due to the abbreviated season, the 2021 playoff format was altered to a single-elimination format through the early rounds until the semifinals. This put added pressure on every opening match. Jaimez noted that Lillard had to overcome particularly long odds in his opening matchup.

“Gabe had the toughest path,” said Jaimez. “Unfortunately, this year is a one-and-done until you get to the semifinals, and our first match was going to be in the quarterfinals, and the young man we had was a guy who had beaten us two previous times earlier in the year, but to be honest with you, I’d rather take the win we had at regionals over the other two wins because that means we get to go wrestle the following weekend. We beat a really good kid to put ourselves in a position to qualify.”

With a young roster, the 2021 regional meet was a learning experience for the host of Maroon Devils wrestling in the starting lineup for the first time this season.

“The bracket kind of dictated how far we were able to go with some of our younger kids,” said Jaimez. “A couple of times we lined up with the state runner-up or the state champ, and when you are a sophomore getting used to being in the lineup for the first time ever, that’s a bit of a tough draw. Our kids wrestled tough, they didn’t back down from the opportunity, we just weren’t ready to compete physically and technically with those kids who were just older and better than us, and that’s just how it goes sometimes.”

The three state qualifiers will travel to Glenn High School in Kernersville for Saturday’s state meet. Jaimez said that the regional draws helped to prime his guys for what will be their toughest test yet.

“All of our kids had to beat a good kid to qualify, and all of our kids are going to have to beat a good kid to get on the podium this weekend,” he said. “That’s just kind of how it goes now. There are no more freebies or easy matches, those are long gone.”