State of the Program ... Pisgah (NC)
Pisgah (NC)
Head Coach: Ryan Gibson (entering 16th season)
Staff: Gage Norris, David Bryson, Josh Rickman
Pisgah finished 16th in 3A a year ago. They do lose State Qualifiers Alex Almaraz and Noah Sepulveda - but this team has several hammers returning and should be in the hunt for a top 10 finish in 2023. Both Kane Bryson and Xander Hill made the podium a year ago as underclassmen and both return hunting that top step this season. This is a team that remains very young and should continue to develop as the season goes along. Bryson is just a sophomore and Hill is a junior … and that is what the team looks like up and down the lineup. Bryson, Turner Robb, Grayson Reece, and Tyson Silver should hold down the bottom part of the lineup (and all are just sophomores). Clay Hatton, JP Chapman, and Jason McClellan will look to make some noise from 126 to 152.
We could see Hill at 152 or 182 and that probably depends on where he is needed to begin the season. He is joined in the 152-170 weights by Cameron King and freshman Landon Pope. Up top Coach Gibson will look for Tytus Bridges and Eli Frizzell to make some noise. Bridges nearly qualified last year as a sophomore and will certainly be looking to punch his ticket this season.
“The team has worked really hard through the Spring, Summer, and Fall traveling around and wrestling tournaments, doing workouts, and attending/holding camps and clinics. We were very young last season in the majority of our weight classes, so the team knew that hard work was needed in order for us to grow. The coaching staff is excited to see just how much growth has happened with the work put in.”
NOTE: All mentions of placers and qualifiers in the body are based on the 2021-22 season. If a wrestler placed higher or lower in a previous year it is not captured above.