Southern Wayne sophomore Omar Soler-Sanchez, center, finished fourth at 106 pounds in the NC High School Athletic Association East 3A regionals Saturday. He punched his ticket to Greensboro for next weekend’s NCHSAA individual wrestling state championship meet. (Contributed photo)
WENDELL — A cloudy, rain-filled sky greeted Omar Soler-Sanchez when he awoke Sunday morning.
Soreness and bruises reminded him of Saturday. Yet nothing could dampen his spirits.
The Southern Wayne sophomore has another week to hone his grappling skills in preparation for the 2024 NC High School Athletic Association Class 3A individual state wrestling championships.
“So happy … just glad I could make [SW] Coach [Tori] King proud,” Soler-Sanchez said after a fourth-place finish at 106 pounds in the East regionals held Saturday at East Wake High School.
“He said, ‘don’t sweat it, relax and take care of business.’ He was proud, really wanted me to get third place. It wasn’t for me this time.”
Soler-Sanchez became the program’s first state qualifier since Austin Taylor competed at 195 pounds in 2017.
He almost missed the season.
An off-campus incident last spring caused Soler-Sanchez to face disciplinary action and miss the entire first semester. He chomped at the bit as he watched his teammates practice, and wrestle in either dual-team meets or individual tournaments in November and December.
“I wanted to be out there,” Soler-Sanchez said.
King wanted his vocal leader on the mat, too.
Though Soler-Sanchez missed two-thirds of the season, but made the most of his second chance to excel. With few matches under his belt, he emerged as the Quad County 3A champion at 106 pounds.
He drew the 13th seed for the regional.
“A scary first match,” Soler-Sanchez said.
Memorable, too.
Soler-Sanchez settled his nerves, channeled his adrenaline and upset fourth-seeded Jayden Rhodes of Currituck County, 10-9. He reached the semifinals with a 9-3 conquest of South Central’s Sander Tran.
Top-seeded Jose Salazar from Southern Nash derailed Soler-Sanchez, 8-2.
“The second match, I knew the kid [Tran] and stayed in control most of the time,” Soler-Sanchez said. “The third match I lost due to lack of conditioning. He [Salazar] was a great kid, had more wrestling time, so I could understand the loss.”
Soler-Sanchez and Rhodes met again with a trip to Greensboro at stake. He seized control early, countered Rhodes’ numerous single-leg shot attempts and easily scored a 19-3 technical fall.
One mission complete, Soler-Sanchez wanted third. West Brunswick’s Tristan Winburn prevailed 8-6 and claimed the bronze medal.
“It was a hard match,” Soler-Sanchez said. “I thought I had more in me, thought I would be better. He was a stronger opponent … was riding legs the whole time. I thought I had him pinned, but it is what it is.”
Overall, the Saints experienced a tough day.
Yusef Ceballos claimed the team’s other individual win — a consolation-round, sudden-victory conquest of Havelock’s Cameron Titus. His success momentarily boosted the Saints’ spirits.
Isaiah Smith (113 pounds), junior Amari Thomas (144), freshman Jordan Valentine (157), Dary Perez-Lucas (165), Senior Gabe Carmack (175) and injured heavyweight Chris Melvin also competed in the day-long event.
“We are all very proud of Omar for all he has had to overcome and primarily of his own doing, but he has learned from his mistakes and continues to be a leader … gets better each day,” King said. “I couldn’t be prouder of him and the rest of the guys, and the coaching staff we have. We really are a great group and work very well together.
“None of this happens without the collaboration of us all. We are turning the corner and hopefully can continue to make progress in rebuilding the program.”
2024 NC High School
Athletic Association Class 3A
East Regional Championships
(at East Wake High School, Wendell)
Team Scores
First Flight (FF) 157, Jacksonville (JAX) 112, Currituck County (CC) 104.5, Charles B. Aycock (CBA) 101, Dixon (DIX) 89, West Carteret (WCAR) 88.5, Croatan (CRO) 84.5, Wilson Fike (Fike) 78, Southern Nash (SN) 72, South Johnston (SJ) 67, Franklinton (FRA) 60.5, Swansboro (SWA) 60.5, West Brunswick (WB) 57, Northside (NS) 55.5, White Oak (WO) 51, West Johnston (WJ) 37.5, North Brunswick (NB) 34, South Central (SC) 34, Northern Nash (NN) 30, Havelock (HAV) 27, Richlands (RICH) 25, East Wake (EW) 14, Vance County (VC) 14, Wilson Hunt (HUN) 13, Rocky Mount (RM) 12, Southern Wayne (SW) 11.5, South Brunswick (SB) 3, Smithfield-Selma (SSS) 1.
Regional Championships
106: Abbey Verhow (WO) wbf Jose Salazar (SN), 1:39; 113: Ethan Brownlee (SJ) dec. Cole Hunt (JAX), 1-0; 120: Joshua Kozminski (DIX) dec. Ziquaveon Kornegay (SC), 4-1; 126: Khalif Sibugan (FF) dec. Ayden Goodman (SWA), 11-5; 132: Luke Connick (WB) dec. Andrew Fucci (DIX), 4-2; 138: Dylan Shirley (WCAR) dec. Nathan Canning (FF), 15-8; 144: Gavin Cohen (CRO) wbf Azrael Simpson (FF), 3:50; 150: Jordyn Toliver (CC) wbf Jamari Hill (FIKE), 2:48; 157: Samad Wooten (CBA) dec. Moises Santay (NS), 6-5; 165: Jonathan Moses (JAX) inj. def. Ethan Binckley (CC), 0:26; 175: Kai Reese (FF) dec. Kamar Brown (JAX), 3-2; 190: AJ Pile (CRO) dec. Justin Bullock (FIKE), 8-7; 215: Jamarion Ward (SJ) dec. Brayden Cline (SWA), 3-0; 285: Nicholas Rodgers (FIKE) dec. Landon Michael (FRA), 6-3.
