NC 4A East Team Preview
We are finally here … the North Carolina teams that have waited patiently for the season to begin - wait no longer. Practices get started today with the first duals or tris being April 26th. I don’t believe there are any tournaments this season, but it does look like the dual state tournament and the traditional state series will happen according to the NCHSAA website. (If any of that is wrong please let me know and I’ll get it fixed so we aren’t communicating wrong information).
Frank Smithwick at Carolinas Mat News and Ryan Mitchell @RYasksFRL on twitter have been super helpful in pulling together these team previews. The plan is to launch one region a day over the next few weeks. If you see any mistakes please let me know and I will get the information corrected. We are still missing some historical data (last state champs, last team titles, etc.), but much of the information is correct based on last year’s results (unless a wrestler decided to not wrestle again this season or the grade designation was wrong from 2020).
Ryan and Enka Assistant Coach Rhett Hoy have been doing a Carolina Takedown Talk podcast - interested in the latest information? You should definitely check it out. Episodes 9 and 10 cover a preview of the teams in the different classifications. I’ve embedded those two episodes below, but you might be interested in some of the other things they’ve been covering as well … you can find those episodes on their youtube channel.
Episode 10 - NC 3A and 4A
Episode 9 - NC 1A and 2A
Onto the 4A East Region Team Previews
All team previews can be found on the NC page of the website. Remember the previews are based on the 2019-2020 results … which seems like forever ago - especially with the other states having already finished their 2020-2021 seasons. If you don’t recall … Laney claimed the East Region title fairly handily over New Bern, Leesville Road, Corinth-Holders, and Millbrook.
Past results doesn’t necessarily predict future success, but the top teams should be kept an eye on again in 2021. Laney loses 4 hammers, but they still return some significant point-getters (including 2020 106 lb. State Champ Mark Samuel). New Bern, Wake Forest, and Wakefield each have the opportunity to return more than 10 that competed in the 2020 post-season. They should definitely be back in the mix in 2021 (New Bern was 2nd and Wake Forest was 5th … both will look to push Laney for the title). Wakefield was 11th and will be hunting for a top 10 (perhaps a top 5 finish) in 2021.