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Polk County didn’t defend its Mountain Foothills 7 Conference Tournament team title on Saturday.

But with five individual champions and the 1A postseason ahead, head coach Thomas Hensley wasn’t too down in the dumps about watching R-S Central leave the PCHS gym with the team plaque in hand.

“I thought we wrestled well, and that’s the thing,” Hensley said. “This tournament, while it doesn’t mean anything for us moving forward, you still want to do well. Now we’re really excited to wrestle 1A competition for the rest of the year.”

Polk County placed second Saturday in the team standings, 28 points behind the Hilltoppers. Numerous Wolverines received byes in the event, and not being able to wrestle those matches and earn team points affected Polk’s ability to contend for the team title.

But the day still proved a really good one for the program as four Wolverines claimed conference championships:

• Freshman Cole Huntley decisioned Brevard’s Jake Trowbridge in the 106-pound final.
• Sophomore Efrain Rivera won his second MF7 title with a pin of Chase’s Devin Ramsey at 120 pounds.
• A conference runner-up his first two years, junior Carson Bell finally landed an MF7 title, pinning R-S Central’s Elijah Guzman in the second period of their 157-pound final.
• Junior Zalen McCraw won his second straight conference title, scoring a 10-2 major decision over Brevard’s Koltt McCall in the final.
• Five other Polk wrestlers reached the championship round – Liam Jackson at 113 pounds, Amon Villarreal at 126, Jacob Ed at 150, Styler Blackwell at 165 and Chester Wilson at 190. Grace Settles also finished as a conference runner-up in the girls’ tournament.

All had the chance to do so on their home mat as Polk County hosted a conference tournament for just the second time since 2015.

“It’s a really big deal, and we’re glad we’re able to make it special,” Hensley said. “A shout out to Darren May for running this event, the high school, and the middle school (Friday’s Blue Ridge Conference tourney). I also want to thank all my parents who took care of the hospitality room and the kids for not only wrestling but setting this place up, and we’re going to clean it up.

“This is truly a team effort, and I want to thank everyone. This was really good, and it shows how special Polk County really is.”

Pairings for the 1A state dual team tournament will be announced on Thursday, and Hensley is hoping that Polk County will get a chance to host an opening pod. Four teams will open playoff action on Saturday at a single location, with two matches tentatively set to start at 3 p.m. The two winners then meet to determine who advances.

Polk County is currently ranked third in 1A in RankWrestlers’ state ratings, just behind Uwharrie Charter Academy and Mount Airy.

“I think we’ve done everything we need to do,” Hensley said of preparing for the postseason. “So we’re going to see what happens.

“There’s a lot of things we’re going to work on in practice this week, getting better, and we’re excited about (the postseason).”