Hawks Wrestlers Aiming High As Season Heats Up
Hanahan wrestling coach Ray Adkins said. “No bones about it. These guys are here to compete this year."
By Rob Gantt
Special to The HSSR
Hanahan - The Hanahan High School wrestling program has been a consistent winner over the years and is furthering that tradition this winter.
The Hawks took a 16-5 record into the Region 6-3A team duals Jan. 21.
“These guys haven’t made any excuses,” longtime Hanahan wrestling coach Ray Adkins said. “No bones about it. These guys are here to compete this year. It’s exciting for the whole coaching staff… Several guys are flexible. They could go down a spot or bump up a spot. We’re going to try to have really good matchups.”
Senior Jackson Stuckey (144/150 pounds) is guiding the Hawks this winter. Stuckey has more than 100 career victories and won individual titles in the Hawk Invitational and Knights Open this month. Earlier, Stuckey was a runner-up in the US Army Shark Invitational at May River.
Eddie Yambao (113 pounds) is another senior with more than 100 career victories at Hanahan.
More returning state qualifiers from the 2024-25 squad are sophomore Andy Avery (106), junior Jayden Serrano (120), sophomore Owen Miller (138), junior Trey Holcombe (132), senior Kayden Keitt (144), senior John Kanehl (150), senior Pedro Afonso (157) and senior Landen Ritchie (175). More wrestlers getting time on the mat for the Hawks are senior Junior Pichay (120), sophomore Fisher Teal (132), freshman Will Hair (157), sophomore Donovan Manigault (190), senior Josh Hill (215) and freshman heavyweight Joseph Ivey.
“I’m expecting this team to make a deep run into the playoffs,” Adkins said. “I’m excited about it. I think we can do it. These guys have all done what we’ve asked of them as far as getting in the right weight class. Most of these guys were able and willing to drop to their lowest weight class so we could get our 14 best wrestlers on the mat. None of these guys took a selfish role and said no I’m not going to lose the weight, why can’t this guy lose the weight? Everybody really bought into the team. They realized it was best for the team to make that commitment to get to their lowest weight class.”
The Hawks shined in the individual region tournament Jan. 13 at HHS. They claimed nine individual region titles in 14 weight classes. The total was one more than the 2024-25 team earned.
Yambao won his fourth region title, while Stuckey and Ritchie claimed their third region crowns.
Pichay, Avery and Miller are two-time region champions. Holcombe, Afonso and Ivey won their first region titles.
