A historical look at Georgia 7A Traditional State Champions

Georgia 7A is a relatively new phenomenon. The classification began in 2017 and Jess Wilder’s Camden County Wildcats have reigned supreme over the class since its inception. Camden has won every state title awarded in 7A (in both duals and traditional). They will look to make it 8 traditional titles in a row this weekend. They also hold a huge lead in terms of the number of State Champions (24 in 7A) … although keep in mind that schools move in and out of classes all the time (Buford for example only became a 7A school in the 2022-2023 school year - this is just their 2nd season as a 7A program). Below is graphic recognizing the most recent Boys State Champion at current 7A schools (keep in mind that when Rommell Neu won it for Berkmar in 1989 - Georgia only had 4 classes and Neu won it at 135 in 4A). So we are not saying that these were all 7A State Champions - just that these schools are currently 7A and the person listed is their most recent champ.

Let’s take a closer look at just a few of these names (no time to delve into all of them):

Christian Flavin beat Josh Hodge of Kell in the 5A finals at 215 in 2008 to give the Indians just their third ever State Champion and the last one to claim the top step. Flavin is just one of 10 wrestlers in East Coweta history (on the men’s side) to make the podium and only one of 2 (Hawk Cochran being the other) to do it twice. Flavin is the current Women’s Assistant Coach for the top-ranked Life University Running Eagles.

Alex Paucar beat Shay Eskew of McEachern to claim the 4A 125 lb. title in 1992. Paucar is the only male wrestler to claim a state title in the program’s history. Paucar, who is currently an assistant coach at Mountain View High School, won the 103 lb. title as a freshman and then finished 3rd and 2nd before claiming the title again his senior year. Paucar is only 1 of 15 State Placers in Meadowcreek history and the only one to have stepped onto the podium more than twice.

South Gwinnett has had 18 wrestlers make the state podium, but just one to have won a state title. Ross Mitchell beat Doug Shaw of Walton to claim South Gwinnett’s only state title to date. Mitchell is also the only Comet to make the state podium twice in his career.

Kennesaw Mountain’s Justan Rivera is the only 4x State Champion on the list above. Rivera won state titles from 2012 to 2015 and then was a 2x Division 2 National Qualifier and 1x D2 All American for Notre Dame College (Ohio). He is also Kennesaw Mountain’s last male State Champion and just their 4th in program history.