The North Surry Greyhounds’ varsity wrestling team completed a 30-0 season on Tuesday night. Team members are Colby Bowman, Cody McMillian, Tanner Riddle, Levi Taylor, Cody Byrd, Dustin Reynolds, Chaz Dickerson, Duke Gregory, Chris Murray, Dylan Hawks, Logan Younger, Blake East, Ethan Hazzard, Tyler Simmons, Logan Maines, Michael Morgan, Zach Creed, Tommy McMillian, Austin Riggs, Brett Doss, Tyler Dowling, Taylor Baskin and Tyler Riddle. Head coach of the Hounds is Eric Jessup. His assistant coaches are Joey Edwards (pictured) and Jeff Pippen (missing).
North Surry’s team is anchored by six seniors with solid records on the mats this season. At 130 pounds, senior Dustin Reynolds is 27-7 overall, 145-pound Blake East is 28-7, 152-pound Tyler Simmons is 31-4, 171-pound Michael Morgan is 19-9, 189-pound Tommy McMillian is 36-2 and at 215, Brett Doss’ record stands at 22-1.
Senior Tommy McMillian is excited to hit the mats in the mountains against old familiar opponents.
“I want to beat Matt Walker,” McMillian said of the Starmount wrestler his faced off against already this season. “I’d like to avenge my loss to Vincent Beam (Wilkes Central). I lost to him in triple overtime. I’m ready to go Saturday. I think we all are.”
McMillian is interested in pursuing a career in wrestling after high school.
“I wanna get into a college where I can succeed at both academics and athletics,” he said. “I’m not ready to give it (wrestling) up just yet.”
Doss’ goal going into the tournament is to win first place and earn as many points for his team as possible. Doss hopes to encounter Surry Central wrestler Jared Salyers during the tournament.
“Hopefully, it’ll be me and Jared in the finals,” Doss said. “At the South Stokes tournament, I beat him 12-8.”
Doss is currently enlisted in the United State Marine Corps and will be leaving for boot camp on June 22.
Greyhound grappler Reynolds wants his team to come home conference champs. Reynolds’ highlight of the season came from the same tournament as Doss’.
“When I won the South Stokes tournament,” Reynolds said was his top moment. “I wrestled a guy from Northwest Guilford in the finals.
“I learned I was a whole lot better than I thought. I’ve come a long way,” Reynolds added.
Reynolds wants to pursue a degree from the Technical Institute in Mooresville after high school.
East’s goal Saturday at the Mountain Valley tournament is to win it.
“That’s the bottom line,” he said.
East’s had many big moments this season, but his fondest memory on the wrestling mats came his sophomore season in 2007-08.
“I won the team’s Most Improved award,” East said.
East will attend UNC-Charlotte in the fall to major in either computer science or architecture.
The Greyhounds’ Simmons has trouble pinpointing the highlight of this season for he and his team.
“I’d say the highlight has been the entire season,” he said. “It’s been the best experience of my life.”
Top-ranked, Simmons has high hopes for Saturday’s tournament.
“I’m ranked first, but I’m not looking past anybody, even in the first round,” he said. “I hope to win it.”
Simmons expects he may see a familiar Surry Central mat foe, Josh Stover, during the tournament.
“He’s a friend,” Simmons said of Stover. “I’ve beaten him five out of five times I’ve wrestled him.
“He’s a junior, and he’ll be better than I am this year in his senior year.”
The Hounds’ Morgan has one goal for Saturday: to make the all-conference team.
“I’ve never made the all-conference team,” he said. “I think that would be a great achievement.”
Morgan said top opponents in the 171-pound weight class are Wilkes Central’s Leo Guevera, Forbush’s Mike Lawson and Surry Central’s Nate Murphy.
Morgan’s highlight of this season was pinning Murphy for the very first time in a match.
“I didn’t beat him at all last year,” Morgan said of Murphy. “Now, I’m 3-1 against him this year.”
Morgan plans to attend one of three schools in the fall, either Appalchian State University, East Carolina or West Carolina to study music education.
North Surry wrestling coach Eric Jessup is confident about his team going into the tournament.
“I feel pretty good about the way they’re looking right now,” Jessup said. “We still have a couple things to work on before Saturday, but we’re wrestling pretty well going in.”
Jessup said Surry Central, Wilkes Central and Starmount look like the main competition going into this season’s tournament.
Last season’s champ was Wilkes Central.
“Surry Central’s gonna be tough,” Jessup said.
“Central is actually a good tournament team,” he emphasized. They’re a good dual team but also a very good tournament team.
“Of course, Starmount and Wilkes Central are both tough,” he added.
Conference records determine the seeds for the tournament. Those seeds came out Thursday morning.
Starting time for the Mountain Valley 2-A Conference tournament is 9 a.m.
Contact Justin Nuzzo at jnuzzo@mtairynews.com or 719-1922.
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