Stone Faces State a Second Time

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On January 17, Michael Stone won his 100th Varsity wrestling match at the Greenville County Tournament. This record was something he had been working towards since the 9th grade when he joined the Varsity wrestling team after spending two years on the JV team. Though the pressure was on for the 100th match, Stone was confident that he would accomplish the record within the season, so he was not too nervous during the match itself. After winning his 100th match, Stone experienced “pure elation” and was ready to take on the rest of his season.
Stone had been in the wrestling world since before he could join the team himself. His older brother Randy left Christ Church with 107 wins under his belt, and Michael has every intention to beat this record before he graduates and he is well on his way. Last year Michael won the state tournament for the 126lbs. weight class. Repeating a state win is much harder and has only been done once in school history.
This past weekend, Stone fought for his second win at the state tournament in Anderson. The top four wrestlers from upper and lower state qualify for the state tournament. Stone won his first two matches, but lost in the final match, missing his chance to become a repeat state champion. He was losing 4-0 in the first period of the match, but fought back in the 3rd period to reach 5-6 with forty seconds left. Stone let his opponent up, giving up one point and making the score 5-7, in hopes of getting a take down and forcing overtime. Giving up two points at the end, he eventually lost the match 9-5. After the match Stone reflected on his season: “I was sad because of how the season ended, but I have had a great wrestling career, and was proud of how I wrestled in that match because I left it all on the mat.”