SCMAT Exclusive Wrestling Article 12-20-21
The 2000 SC 2A-1A State Tournament ...
... Part 3 of our series
SCMAT concludes a three part series covering the 1999 and 2000 2A-1A wrestling scene in South Carolina.
This is Part 3 of our series, which will finish with the 2000 2A-1A Wrestling State Tournament.
For those that want a refresher on Parts 1 & 2, here are those SCMAT Exclusives:
SCMAT Exclusive - Part 1, 1999 2A-1A Wrestling State Tournament
SCMAT Exclusive - Part 2, 1999 2A-1A Wrestling State Tournament
The year 2000 might be right up there with the crazy year of 2020 (pandemic and all) ... you think I am kidding?
Y2K ... sound familiar? "Y2K" stood for "year two thousand". If you were alive and in the workforce or school, you certainly remember!
The Y2K problem, also called the millennium bug, was a real global fear at the turn of the century. Because of the way computer programs were written beginning in the 1960s, some believed computers would misread the year 2000 for the year 1900 and essentially shut down. Planes would fall out of the sky. The banking industry would collapse. Power grids would meltdown. And the apocalypse would be upon us. Governments around the world worked for months leading up to the new year to fix the issue. In a panic, some people took to stockpiling food and water with others going so far as building underground bunkers to protect themselves from the end times.
And when the clock struck midnight for the new millennium - nothing happened. Everything still worked as usual and life carried on.
So, what were some of the major moments of the year 2000 besides Y2K?
December 31, 1999 - under enormous internal pressure, Boris Yeltsin (President of Russia) announced his resignation, leaving the presidency in the hands of his chosen successor, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. On New Year's Eve 1999, an ailing President Boris Yeltsin stepped down, telling Putin to "take care of Russia." And, 22 years later ... Putin is still "taking care".
February 13, 2000 - After a 70 year run, the last original Peanuts comic strip is published by Charles Schulz, featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
March 4, 2000 - Sony PlayStation 2 releases in Japan. The PlayStation 2 still holds the record for best-selling console of all time having sold over 150 million units.
June 19, 2000 - as a shift from the original model of being an online bookstore, Amazon's logotype became the curved arrow leading from A to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z.
April 13, 2000 - Metallica sues Napster. Though Metallica won the lawsuit, the music industry was forever changed. Napster paved the way for the online music platforms we have today, and the music industry has never recovered.
May 1, 2000 - President Clinton opens GPS up for public use. Up until 1983, Global Positioning System, GPS for short, was restricted for use by only the U.S. military, seeing as they were the ones who developed and launched the satellites into orbit. But in September of 1983, a Korean civilian jet strayed from its intended route and flew into Soviet Union airspace. The Soviets shot down the plane, killing 269 people and escalating tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. In an effort to prevent a catastrophe like this from happening again, President Reagan opened the satellite system up to the public. The catch - the public system wasn't precisely accurate. It would be scrambled, sometimes up to 100 meters off. That all changed in 2000 when President Clinton ending the scrambling. making accurate GPS free and available to everyone. Of course, this made much of the technology we enjoy today, like smartphones and navigation apps, possible.
June 19, 2000 - The Los Angeles Lakers dynasty begins with Kobe Bryant emerging as the young superstar the league needed, after Michael Jordan's retirement in 1998.
September 2000 - Blockbuster Video declines to purchase upstart Netflix. One of the greatest "what if" stories of all-time.
December 12, 2000 - Bush v. Gore settles presidential race in one of the closest and most controversial presidential elections in modern history.
And, in SC wrestling ...
could 2000 be any crazier for 2A-1A compared to 1999?
YES, it would!!!
After 55 prior State Tournaments in SC across all classifications (between 1969-2000), where team score decided the State Champion, the 2000 season for 2A-1A would end up a State Title TIE - two teams with the same points - Loris and Crescent. The South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) would have to create a duplicate State trophy!
Before I tell you "the rest of the story", I believe these 3 newspaper articles from 2000 are essential and a must read, so take a few minutes to click & read:
Crescent shares Class AA-A state title with Loris
Loris will have to wait for Hardware- Again
Though these newspaper articles were about the finish between Loris and Crescent, we will see that the team race was once again a competitive thriller between five teams ... but, before we do let's see why 2000 became the transitional year for 2A-1A.
In 2000, 2A-1A was still the only classification in SC that recognized the Team Champion based on team points at the State Individuals. 4A was the highest classification and 4A had moved to the State Duals format in 1993. The 3A classification followed suit in 1994 and also went to the State Duals format for recognizing the Team Champion.
2A-1A had been thriving on the team race being decided by an open field with all teams having a chance to win it all, going in to the final weekend of the season.
The 2000 4A State Team Champion had already been decided 2 weeks prior to State Individuals, with Rock Hill (Coach Jim Barnes) defeating Irmo (Coach David Maas) in a 40-19 State Duals Finals. This would be Coach Jim Barnes final dual match in his coaching career at Rock Hill after a 30 year career in SC wrestling.
The 2000 3A State Team Champion had already been decided 2 weeks prior to State Individuals, with Eastside (Coach Jack Kosmicki) defeating Lugoff-Elgin (Coach Tim Wash) in a 31-27 State Duals Finals. This would be Coach Jack Kosmicki's first State Title in a wrestling dynasty that has now won 16 State Titles in the last 22 years.
2000 was the second year in a row that all classifications had been together in the same gym for the State Tournament(s) since 1977. In 1999, the SC Wrestling Coaches Association was able to bring all classes back together for State Individuals, so fans and wrestlers could see the best wrestlers on the same weekend. Furman University was once again the host site for the State Tournaments in 2000, like it had been in 1999.
So, the 2A-1A Team Championship and 2A-1A Individual Champions would be decided at Furman University, while 4A and 3A would only crown Individual Champions.
The 2000 2A-1A team races would again start to take shape at the Lower and Upper State held one week before going to Furman University for the State Tournament.
For a third straight year (2000, 1999, 1998), West-Oak would win the 2A-1A Upper State Championship, but fall short at State.
Lower State - at Edisto H.S. - February 18-19, 2000
Team Placement at Lower State:
NOTE - though we do not have any information on team placement,
Loris, Bishop England, Cheraw and Swansea would have battled it out.
Upper State - at West-Oak H.S. - February 18-19, 2000
Team Placement at Upper State:
1. West-Oak
2. Crescent
3. Chapin
The 2000 2A-1A State Tournament held at Furman University was again a team battle throughout the two days on February 25-26, 2000 ... 2A-1A would have the "definitive" closest team race in SC history, with 5 teams having a chance to win it all going into the Consolation Finals and Championship Finals, and closing the 2A-1A State Tournament with a TIE.
This 5 way team race boiled down to which team would have the best finish in the last two rounds ... as you can see the Loris wrestlers finished strong once again!
Team and wrestler stats from the Consolation Finals and Championship Finals:
West-Oak 4 wrestlers that went 2-2
Chapin 5 wrestlers that went 2-3
Bishop England 6 wrestlers that went 3-3
Crescent 6 wrestlers that went 1-5
Loris 6 wrestlers that went 4-2
The final Team Scores to decide the 2000 2A-1A State Championship:
1. Loris - 83 points (Coach Mike Morris)
1. Crescent - 83 points (Coach Russell Blackston)
3. West-Oak - 81 points (Coach Mark Holliday)
4. Bishop England - 75.5 points (Coach Paul Spence)
5. Chapin - 75 points (Coach Bob Taylor)
6. Cheraw - 68.5 points (Coach Brad Porter)
7. Swansea - 59 points (Coach Quincy Riley)
8. Walhalla - 50 points (Coach Trey Gardner)
9. Christ Church - 48 points (Coach Bryan Stevens)
10. Bamberg-Ehrhardt - 44 points (Coach Randall Balch)
To see the results from the Consolation and Championship Finals, see the link below:
Crescent had to count on their HWT Ben Dunn, a Junior, to defeated Rutledge Johnson (Christ Church) by a 4-2 decision in the Championship Finals at 275 lbs., in order to TIE the Team scoring with Loris. Ironically, Rutledge Johnson (Christ Church) had defeated Ben Dunn (Crescent) at Upper State, so the motivation of a Team State Title as well as Individual State Title proved to be a driving force for Dunn!
For another great story line that season, read this article on Chip Sandifer dedicating his title to Randy Martinez:
West-Oak wrestler dedicates title to pal
Here are the photos of the only two teams in South Carolina Wreztling History to TIE for the State Title:
2000 Loris team photo at the State Tournament
2000 Crescent team photo at the State Tournament
2000 was the pivotal year for the 2A-1A coaches and the SC High School League (SCHSL). They had to move to the State Duals format. So, beginning in 2001, the 2A-1A State Duals would begin.
By 2001, when Duals determined the 2A-1A State Title, Woodruff would defeat Swansea 44-26, for the first 2A-1A Dual State Title. Walhalla would make it to the Upper State Semi-Finals and give Woodruff their closest match of the 2001 State Duals, 37-33. When if came to team points at the 2001 State Individuals, Swansea was the #1 team with Walhalla at #12 and Woodruff at #13. As I have heard many coaches say over the decades, it is extremely hard to "peak" and win State Duals and turn around and have your wrestlers at the same level for State Individuals. The 1999 and 2000 State Tournaments had forever changed the 2A-1A classification into the new era of State Duals.
This concludes SCMAT's 3 par Exclusive series on the 1999 and 2000 SC 2A-1A State Tournaments. Thanks for all those helping with this series!
These historical articles at SCMAT will hopefully provide accurate facts though we may always have missed some data at some point. If you notice a correction, addition or just want to comment please send a reply to scmat@hotmail.com
thanks,
Mark Buford
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