West-Oak goes after third straight AAA wrestling title against Gilbert
Championship match set for noon on Saturday at Dreher
Sumter – West-Oak High School has won four of the last seven South Carolina High School League AAA wrestling state championships. Gilbert has wrestled for the state title three times in the past seven years. However, those two schools never wrestled each other for the crown during that time frame.
West-Oak and Gilbert will wrestle for the title this year though. They will meet on Saturday at noon at Dreher High School in Columbia.
The Warriors, who are the 2-time defending state champions and also won titles in 2016 and 2018, made it back to the championship match with a 40-31 victory over Chester for the upper state title on Wednesday. Gilbert, which was the lower state champion from 2019 through 2021, won the lower state crown with a 40-30 triumph over Dreher.
It has not been an easy go of it for West-Oak to reach its third straight championship match. After routing Blue Ridge 83-0 in their first-round match, the Warriors squeezed past Belton-Honea Path 36-30 in the second round. They knocked off Palmetto 40-25 on Monday before picking up the 9-point win over Chester.
“We’ve had a pretty tough road this week,” said West-Oak head coach Derek Strobel. “We’ve wrestled some great teams and we’ve been able to make it through. We’ve had a great season and have done a lot of traveling (wrestling in tournaments) to get prepared for this.
“That’s our expectation every year, to make it to the championship and win. The kids understand that. That’s our mindset, to work every day and reach that goal.”
Gilbert is ranked 18th by scmat.com to No. 1 for West-Oak. The Indians finished second in Region 5 to Dreher. After two easy wins, Gilbert traveled to 2-time defending lower state champion Aynor and came away with a 48-33 victory. The Indians then went to Dreher on Wednesday and came away with the 10-point win.
GHS head coach Mitch Hudson said it has not been an easy season for his squad as it has battled injuries from the start of the season. He said he never got to put the lineup he had envisioned prior to the season until the playoffs began.
“We’ve had obstacles, whether illness or injury, all season.” Hudson said. “It seems like we always had a hole. We as coaches never doubted the kids. They’ve kept working, kept striving to get there, and we finally got there once the playoffs started.
“I’m not shocked, but very appreciative for the opportunity. It felt like we were at the bottom of the valley most of the year. We’re seeing some daylight now.”
West-Oak has ranked wrestlers among the top eight in 11 of the 14 weight classes, according to scmat.com. It is particularly strong in the lighter classes with top-ranked wrestlers in five of the nine lightest classes along with a No. 2 ranking.
Leading the way is senior Teague Strobel, who is ranked Nol 1 in the 126-pound class. He is the 2-time defending state champion at 113. As a freshman at Lexington, he finished second at 106 in AAAAA.
Sophomore A.J. DeLaCruz is ranked first at 113 after winning the state title at 106 last season. Junior Marcus Thaxton is ranked first at 157 after winning state at 145 last year.
Freshman Sy Strobel is No. 1 at 120, and senior Landon Allen is ranked first at 138. Allen finished third and second at 120, respectively, the two previous seasons.
Peyton Durham is ranked second at 106, senior Jared Cruz is second at 285 after qualifying for state in the class last year, senior Patrick Rholetter is fourth at 165, senior Lane Allen is ranked sixth at 150, senior Corbin Dickson is eighth at 215, and junior Ryan Addis is ranked eighth at 190.
Gilbert only has four ranked wrestlers, but two of them are at the top of their weight classes and a third is ranked second.
Senior Colton Travis is ranked No. 1 at 190. He is the defending state champion at 195. Senior Jonathan Brentlinger is ranked No. 1 at 144. He qualified for state at 145 last year after finishing fourth as a sophomore. He also qualified at 132 as a freshman.
Senior Hayden Schroeder is ranked second at 132. He’s finished second in the state in his weight class since his freshman season. He was second at 126 in 2023 and at 113 as a sophomore. As a freshman in South Dakota, he was second at 106 in Class A.
Junior Devin Lirgg is ranked eighth at 126. He qualified for state at 120 last year.
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