GREENSBORO — Hunt High’s Judah Harris looks to become the fourth state champion wrestler in school history Saturday, Feb. 20, when he takes the mat at First Horizon Coliseum for the NCHSAA 5-A 215-pound championship match.
The Warriors junior earned that right with a pair of victories Friday in the first day of the tournament that encompasses all eight NCHSAA classifications with 1-A/2-A combined into one. Now 39-1 on the season, Harris will oppose Franklin High sophomore Garrett Young in the championship match Saturday.
“I feel like I did amazing,” Harris said of his performance during a telephone interview Friday evening. ”A couple of mistakes that I could work on. But looking at my matches tonight, I could have done better and just go forward from there.”
Harris, the top seed in the eight-wrestler bracket, pinned Will Weatherspoon of Gastonia Hunter Huss in 1 minute, 12 seconds but not before racking up a 10-1 lead. In the semifinals win over Croatan’s Porter Ingles, the No. 5 seed, Harris clicked to a 20-4 technical fall victory in 4:19.
Harris, who was Hunt’s first regional champion since Noel Carrillo in 2012, will have a different challenge in Young on Saturday. The West Region king is 45-2 and breezed through his two matches Friday as easily as Harris. Young pinned Havelock’s Zy’aire Pridgen in 1:16 and then won by fall over South Point’s Aiden Sullivan in 1:22 in the semis.
“When I first got there, he was asking about me,” Harris said of Young. :He was asking all the other wrestlers from the East about me, so he seemed pretty worried about who I was and what I’m capable of. But you know, there’s no easy task. Winning the state championship’s probably hardest thing, and then getting there is the second-hardest thing, you know. So I’m not too worried, but I’m not just gonna take him lightly.”
Harris has never faced Young at any level, including club tournaments, but will rely on experience and determination Saturday. Harris qualified for the state tournament as a freshman 215-pounder but a broken leg in football as a sophomore wiped out last wrestling season.
Harris wrestles competitively throughout the year but is also an elite judo competitor, earning a gold medal at the USA Judo Junior Olympic National Championships last July to earn one of 16 spots for Team USA at the International Judo Federation’s World Cadet Championships in Bulgaria in August.
Harris helped Hunt reach the NCHSAA 5-A football championship game in December but the Warriors lost to Crest High of Shelby. Now Harris is hoping to go the distance and join Johnnie Coleman (1982), Sheldon Vick (1993) and Jamel Daniels (1994) as Warriors wrestling state champions.
“I think I’m gonna feel amazing,” Harris said of his emotions when he takes the mat Saturday night in Greensboro. “I’m gonna feel proud of myself and all the things I’ve accomplished. You know, not many people can say they went to a world cadet championship in judo, went to a state championship in football, now competing for a state championship in wrestling.”
FIREBIRDS’ OGDEN STILL ALIVE
Southern Nash sophomore Lennon Ogden went 1-1 in his two matches at 113 pounds Friday and moved into the consolation semifinals.
Ogden, the 5-A East Region runner-up, outpointed North Gaston’s Marquez Macarthur 8-3 in their first-round match before losing by technical fall 16-0 to West Region champion and No. 2 seed Jacobie Morrison of Enka.
That loss sent Ogden to the consolation semifinals where he awaits the winner of the elimination match between Shevin Beaufort of East Lincoln and Raymi Robles of Croatan.
C.B. Aycock’s Zymir Best, the East champion and top seed at 138 pounds, was upset by West Rowan’s Chris Gaither 6-2 in the first round Friday. Best will meet Douglas Byrd’s Cristian Ramos-Villareal in a consolation survival match Saturday.
In the 5-A girls tournament, Southern Nash freshman Lyrical Doughty lost her opening match by fall to Serenity Payne of West Henderson before being eliminated by Person County’s Tylanii Lunsford by fall in the consolation round.
