Pisgah wrestling recognized as one of WNC's top teams

May 6—After one of the most memorable seasons in recent Haywood County high school sports history, Pisgah wrestling earned another honor on Sunday night.

The team was recognized as the region's top male Olympic sport team in Division I during the 64th Annual Western North Carolina Sports Awards Banquet at the Omni Grove Park Inn.

"It was really just kind of an awesome moment," Pisgah Coach Ryan Gibson said. "It was one of those ones where you just kind of sit back, and you go, 'Man, what a group of kids.'"

The team was up against Enka wrestling and A.C. Reynolds cross country for the award.

"What that group's done is very satisfying, because they deserve it. It's not about the coaches. It's all about the kids and what they do and what they accomplish. It was awesome just to see other people recognize that," Gibson said.

This season was the second straight year that the Bears wrestling team won the Western Region in the dual team wrestling tournament and finished as runners-up in that state tournament. The Bears went 27-2 as a dual team this season.

On top of that, Pisgah went to the individual state tournament and came home with a team title after six of its wrestlers qualified for state championship final matches, with seniors Landon Pope and Kail Burnette bringing home titles individually.

"That's a group of winners, and they wanted to win. That's what drove them — they wanted to be successful," Gibson said.

The coach gave a lot of credit to a great group of seniors, who put in the work over four years.

"We always stressed that the toughest battles were in that room. Nobody knows what those kids put in that room," Gibson said.

In fact, he said this group was one of the most special ones he's been a part of in his 19 years coaching Pisgah wrestling.

"You dream of a group of kids, or groups of kids, like we've had in the last couple years, to just totally change the face of your program right, to flip you in the direction where you want to be. That's this group," Gibson said.

That group of seniors has been extremely successful. Over the four-year span, the team held a 120-8 record in dual team matches. Gibson had a whole list of accomplishments that the team has racked up, including four-time conference dual team and individual tournament team champions, two-time west region individual tournament champs and two-time runner-up and two-time dual-team west region champions.

"The group before them set the stage, and these guys were able to do it," Gibson said.