Hammond coach Randy Wolfe sat on a mat engaged in a running conversation with an assistant coach as both watched Columbia and Cardinal Newman wrestle late Saturday afternoon.

Wolfe knew his Skyhawks would finish the second annual Highlander Duals at the Carolina Coliseum against the losing team from that match. So, he was trying to identify how he wanted to shape his lineup based on the matches he was watching.

“We use (tournaments like this) to develop strategy (for future matches and tournaments) and scout other teams and wrestlers,” Wolfe said. “Sometimes, we’ll move our better guys to go against another team’s better guys to give them a test. Sometimes, we’ll move our better guys around to avoid another team’s better guys.”

The fact that Hammond’s opponent eventually became Cardinal Newman only increased Wolfe’s desire to shift wrestlers.

“We’ve already wrestled Cardinal Newman (as part of the regular season schedule), so we are looking to move guys around with a view toward states. We want to see what alignments might work best for us and our guys.”

Hammond’s tinkering may pay off during the postseason tournaments. On Saturday, however, the Skyhawks fell to the Cardinals in the ninth–place match.

“I like to play a little chess, sometimes, but I’m a big fan of putting my best 14 out there against your best 14 and seeing what happens,” Cardinal Newman coach Eric Goff said. “I haven’t had to do a lot of moving guys around in tournaments.”

Of course, Goff was doing his experimenting by taking part in the tournament.

“I wanted to get our guys some experience facing teams and wrestlers they wouldn’t see normally,” Goff said. “This way, they are seeing guys they don’t know anything about and have to react.”

Also, not having the chance or the inclination to shuffle their lineups were White Knoll and Bluffton. White Knoll won the showdown to earn the tournament title. In other placement matches, Mitchell (N.C.) beat Airport to take third, Westfield (Ga.) defeated Lake City to finish fifth, and Gilbert edged Columbia to finish seventh.

The 21–team tournament was divided into two brackets (three teams were late scratches). The top five teams in each bracket after four matches advanced to the placement round, during which each team faced its counterpart in the other bracket. Unlike individual tournaments, wrestlers were not locked into a single weight class for all of their team’s matches, which permitted coaches to play a little chess.

“If I can put my strongest team out there without moving people around, I’m going to do that,” Spring Valley coach Rob Wells said. “But when you can’t do that, or you are missing some people, then you have to shift folks, do a little gambling that maybe you can pick up points in one weight class to offset points you are losing somewhere else or try to create double forfeits so you don’t lose any ground.”

In addition to competing on the mat, participating teams also competed in fundraising for the Harvest Hope Food Bank and some other charities. Gilbert produced the largest donation while Mitchell generated the second largest contribution.
Bracket order of finish
Upper:
1. White Knoll
2. Airport
3. Lake City
4. Gilbert
5. Hammond
Lower:
1. Bluffton
2. Mitchell (N.C.)
3. Westfield (Ga.)
4. Columbia
5. Cardinal Newman.