Scotland sophomores Moore, Williams, Salinas impress at wrestling states

GREENSBORO — A trio of sophomores represented Scotland wrestling at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s State Championships last Thursday through Saturday inside the Greensboro Coliseum.

Scotland’s Carmin Moore and Latia Williams each finished 1-2 in the women’s state tournament, which was sanctioned for the first time, and Thomas Salinas was Scotland’s only male wrestler to make states, finishing 0-2 but going for all six minutes in each.

“We had many ebbs and flows at the state championships,” Scotland men’s and women’s wrestling coach Thomas Havener said. “We had many firsts in this tournament, with Thomas Salinas making his first appearance at this tournament.”

Salinas (34-14) wrestled Montgomery Central’s Imon Freeman in the first round of the 3A 144-pound bracket Thursday, losing via an 8-5 decision.

“I had an early lead, but … he was more technical,” Salinas said. “It was very long. He just got the best of me. It was a tough loss, but I definitely learned. I feel like I got at least one percent better from that match. I really enjoyed it.”

Salinas’ bout against Fred T. Foard’s Kevin Romero in the consolation first round Friday also ended in a decision, with Romero coming away with an 11-6 win and ending Salinas’ run.

“I really choked up on my second match, but it’s okay,” Salinas said.

“Even though he went through two tough matches and went 0-2, he did not get pinned, he did not give up and lost by a small margin,” Havener said.

Although the results weren’t what Salinas hoped for, he plans on competing for a state championship again next year.

“I only did enough last offseason just to catch me up,” Salinas said. “But this next coming up season, this is going to be my breakthrough season. I feel like I’m definitely going to start to surpass a lot of the wrestlers just because of the work I feel like I’m going to put in.”

Moore (20-9) and Williams (15-10) made history by becoming the first women wrestlers in Scotland history to compete at the state tournament and added to that feat by winning their first-round matches.

Moore pinned Reagan’s Tyashia Cleveland in a minute and 26 seconds to advance to the 144-pound quarterfinals, and Williams, who wrestled at 152, pinned Wakefield’s Dayna Bland in 2:42 to also make it to the quarterfinal round.

Neither Lady Scot had a chance to become a state champion after the following round, though, with Moore losing to T.C. Roberson’s Lilly Reynolds by a 4-2 decision, and Williams being pinned by Lake Norman’s Caleigh Suddreth; in the consolation second round Saturday, Moore was defeated by Swansboro’s Maggie Milbery by a 2-1 decision, and Williams fell to Mount Pleasant’s Mallory Seymour via a 17-5 major decision.

While Moore and Williams were unavailable for comment, Havener said he expects them to make great strides in the next two years.

“Even though they lost their next two matches, they both finished 1-2 and got knocked out of the tournament, they represented their school with pride and will continue to climb the ranks in North Carolina women’s wrestling,” he said.

Moore, Williams and Salinas continued a streak of Scotland having at least one wrestler compete at states since 2018.