Rock Hill celebrates back-to-back girls’ wrestling state championships
Rock Hill’s girls’ wrestling team celebrated its second-consecutive state championship this past weekend at the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center.
The Bearcats are now two-for-two in state championships after winning the inaugural South Carolina High School League-sanctioned girls’ wrestling state championship last year.
Rock Hill finished the tournament with 62 points, edging out runner-up Greenwood by four.
“It’s very rewarding,” Rock Hill head coach Timothy Beard said. “To go down there and win the tournament again with not a completely different set of characters but kids that were there last year who elevated into those new spots and be the horses that we relied on, it was really special to see them get to step in the lime light.”
Two big components in Rock Hill’s championship win were junior Sirenity Davis and sophomore Madilyn Beck, who won individual state championships in the 105-pound and 110-pound weight classes, respectively.
Davis is the younger sister of former Rock Hill wrestler Trinity Davis, who finished second in her individual weight classes at last year’s competition as a senior.
Davis, who has been with the program since her freshman year, said that having her sister on the team with her, but it wasn’t always a positive.
“(Trinity) did push me to become better, but I say last year, me and her, it was kind of a distraction,” Davis said. “We would just miss practice for no reason and play around, but I feel like since she’s not in the room anymore, I can really focus on what I need to do instead of trying to see what she’s doing and getting distracted. And having a wrestling partner like (Madilyn Beck) helps.”
This is the first individual state championship for Beck and Davis, both of who were also on last year’s roster.
Like Davis, Beck wasn’t fully engaged last year. However, the joy of winning the state championship this year is a feeling that she wants to replicate for her final two years at Rock Hill.
“It’s the goal I’ve been working for all year and all last year,” Beck said. “I was really proud of myself to finally achieve it.”
“Last year, I was kind of unmotivated,” Beck added. “I didn’t really apply myself. This year, I finally got it together and really pushed myself. I was really working for it this year, so it meant more this year than it did last year.”
This year was also different for the Bearcats in that the girls’ wrestling team didn’t have to face any boys’ programs as with previous seasons.
The two still practiced against members of Rock Hill’s boys’ wrestling team, but it was a noticeable difference in wrestling exclusively against other girls this year.
“Last year, there really wasn’t a lot of wrestling to do for girls,” Beck said. “That’s why most of us wrestled boys’ tournaments too. I’ve wrestled one, maybe two matches for the boys’ team whenever they didn’t have someone in the spot already. This year, being able to wrestle just girls, it’s different for me because of how long I’ve been wrestling boys. It’s definitely a change. It’s not really a good or a bad change, but it’s a change.”
Davis finished the season 40-1, while Beck finished the season at 39-1.
Other key performers at the tournament included Alyciah Thomas, who finished as state runner-up in the 155-pound class and went 31-5 for the season, and Brismar Velazquez, who was a state qualifier in the 145-pound class and finished the season 28-18.
The girls’ wrestling team will be returning everyone from this year’s team heading into next year. Beard is excited about the prospects of his team making another run at the state championship and hopes to increase the popularity and success of his program.
“I want to continue to grow the sport and get more girls out,” Beard said. “And I’d like to see us double the number of (state) qualifiers we have next year and instead of having four, we’ll go put eight in and try to run away with the tournament. For (Davis and Beck), I just want to see them continue to improve their wrestling and improve, most importantly, as people as they prepare for adulthood. But for them to get the chance to defend their titles is pretty special.
Rock Hill boys’ also fares well
The girls’ wrestling team wasn’t the lone wrestling team to experience postseason success at Rock Hill.
Rock Hill’s boys’ wrestling team (whom Beard also coaches) advanced all the way to the 5A upper-state championship meet despite entering the postseason as the fourth-seed from the region.
Freshman Trey Robinson finished third individually in the 190-pound weight class, while senior Malachi Thomas finished fourth in the 165-pound weight class.
“We are at the premier wrestling school in all of York County and in all of South Carolina,” Beard said. “You look around the (wrestling) gym, and you see all the pictures, and it’s a standard. It’s a standard of excellence that we all try to live up to. For our guys, they had a tremendous year. We had a tremendous run in the playoffs, and we go in and we won seven matches in the upper state final, we just came up a little short. It was a really special year for the entire program.”
Three other tri-county schools finished in the top ten in the girls wrestling state championship.
Clover finished tied for fourth with 45 points, Lancaster finished eighth with 38 points, and Chester finished ninth with 37 points.
