North Carolina at the College Opens

For eight days at the start of November, North Carolina high school wrestlers went and wrestled college rosters. Three open tournaments, three different fields: the Southeast Open on 1 November, the PJ Smith Pembroke Open at UNC Pembroke on 7 November, and the Averett Cougar Open in Danville, Virginia on 8 November.

Twenty-three North Carolina high schoolers entered across the three. They went 38-47, and 27 of those wins were wrestled out against an opponent on a college roster — Division I programs among them. Four further wins over college-roster opponents came by medical forfeit and are left out of that 27. Seven of the twenty-three left with a medal.

That is the whole point of an open. There is no seeding protection and no age bracket. A high school junior draws a college starter in the first round and finds out where he is. Twenty-seven times in eight days, a North Carolina kid won that match.

Four Years

In 2022, five North Carolina high schoolers wrestled one of these three events. All five went to Pembroke, in state and close to home, most of them unattached. This year twenty-three went, to all three.

More than four times as many kids, and they are no longer going to one tournament. Five drove to the Southeast Open and six to the Cougar Open in Danville, two fields North Carolina did not enter in 2022.

The 2022 counts are name-by-name research against state association records, so read them as a floor. The 2026 counts are computed from the bouts. We do not hold the 2023, 2024 or 2025 fields for any of the three events, and North Carolina wrestlers competed in those years, so the middle of the climb is not shown here.

The Three Events

Who Placed

Mullis, Perry, Thomas and Alexander placed at Pembroke. Sumners, Owens and Singleton placed at the Cougar Open.

The Wins

Pembroke Open

Nash Mullis, North Stanly, class of 2027 — 3-1, third at 285. The reigning NCHSAA 3A 215-pound state champion opened with a fall over Amarion Wilson of Greensboro, beat TJ Fulgham of Glenville State 10-5 in the quarterfinal, and took third with a 15-5 major decision over Orrin King of King University.

Jacob Perry, New Bern, class of 2028 — 3-2, fourth at 165. Fourth at 150 in the NCHSAA 7A field last season, he won three straight over college wrestlers to reach the semifinal: 9-5 over Blake Schepis of UNC Pembroke, 9-8 over Connor Svantner of Glenville State, then a 15-3 major over Kody Sigmon of UNC Pembroke in the quarterfinal.

Jaxon Thomas, Piedmont, class of 2027 — 3-2, sixth at 125. The 6A 113-pound state champion teched Alex Monks of Mount Olive 16-1, pinned Phoenix Ayers of King in 1:35, and majored Abdiel Rodriguez of UNC Pembroke 10-1 in the consolation semifinal.

Andrew Alexander, Hickory Ridge, class of 2028 — 4-3, eighth at 149. Four consecutive wins over college opponents: falls over Corey Fazekas and Khalel Sibugan of Mount Olive, a 4-3 decision over Jackson Lambert of UNC Pembroke, and a fall over Lewis Allen of King.

Benjamin Green, Chapel Hill, class of 2028 — 2-2 at 285. A 7A state qualifier at 215 last season, he beat TJ Fulgham of Glenville State 7-4 in sudden victory.

Jackson D'Ettore, Charlotte Catholic, class of 2028 — 1-2 at 125. The 6A 120-pound state champion pinned Mason Moody of Coker in 3:24. His entry carries a Fort Mill, South Carolina club, as every high school entry here carries one, and he is a North Carolina wrestler.

Jacob Campos, White Oak, class of 2027 — 1-2 at 165. Runner-up at 157 in 6A last season, he pinned Thomas Fulmore of UNC Pembroke in 2:37.

Dylan Nunez, Richmond Senior, class of 2028 — 1-2 at 125. The 7A 120-pound state runner-up won his opening match by fall.

Also entered at Pembroke: Konner Gardner, Richmond Senior, class of 2027, at 174; Zareion Ebron-Berger, New Bern, class of 2027, at 133; Anthony Enciso, West Johnston, class of 2028, at 141; and Chris Gaither, West Rowan, class of 2028, fourth at 138 in the 5A field last season, at 149.

Cougar Open

Carson Owens, Leesville Road, class of 2027 — 4-2, fifth at 184. Three wins over college wrestlers and all three by a wide margin: a 17-2 tech fall over Willie Toliver of Averett, 16-9 over Adrian Johnson of Bluefield State, and a 22-12 major over Kelvin Alumonah of Bluefield State. He won the NCISA title at 167 in 2025, wrestling then for Iron Academy, and won the Super 32 Early Entry title at 190.

Ayden Sumners, Wheatmore, class of 2027 — 4-2, fifth at 133. A two-time NCHSAA state champion at 126, in 2A in 2025 and 3A in 2026, he pinned Giancarlo Rodriguez of Marymount in 1:26 and added a tech fall and a decision. His fifth-place match was a medical forfeit.

Nathanael Singleton, Northern Durham, class of 2029 — 3-3, sixth at 125. A sophomore, and all three of his wins came against college wrestlers: 13-11 over Dysen Gould of American University, an 18-3 tech fall over Jaelyn Carlyle of Marymount, and a fall over Donte Majors of Lynchburg.

Ronald Shuford, Southeast Guilford, class of 2027 — 2-2 at 157. Fourth at 144 in 6A last season, he majored Hunter Pennington of Averett 11-2.

Jonathan Burns Jr., Franklinton, class of 2027 — 2-2 at 165. A 6A state qualifier at 150, he pinned Elijah Miller of Wittenberg in 4:06.

Alexei Hidalgo, Jordan, class of 2028 — 1-2 at 133, with a 23-8 tech fall in the consolation round.

Southeast Open

One of the most competitive early-season opens on the East Coast, and the entry list is the reason: thirty-six teams, among them NC State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Appalachian State, Campbell, Chattanooga, George Mason, Davidson, Gardner-Webb and VMI. Fifteen Division I programs in one gym on the first day of November. North Carolina's 4-10 is the hardest 4-10 of the three events, and the five who entered did it in the deepest field any of them will see before the new year.

Jake Amiott, Topsail, class of 2028 — 3-2 at 149, the deepest North Carolina run in the field. Fourth at 138 in 7A last season, he pinned Gable Pauole of Mount Olive in 4:32 and then pinned Anthony Basile of George Mason in 4:06.

Holt Quincy, North East Carolina Prep, class of 2027 — a two-time state champion, at 106 in 1A in 2024 and at 126 in the 1A/2A field in 2026, he went 1-2 at 133, his win by medical forfeit.

Also entered: Paxton Kearns, Trinity, class of 2028, third at 126 in 4A last season, at 133; Marley Williams, Mooresville, class of 2028, at 174; and Ben McCaleb, Topsail, class of 2028, a 7A qualifier at 175, at 184.

What These Numbers Do Not Include

Four gaps, all of them ours rather than the wrestlers'. Three trace to a single rule: a high schooler may not enter one of these events in school gear, so every one of them wrestles unattached or under a club. The team stamp on an entry is never his high school, and it is never his state.

The Southeast Open count is low and we know it. Of 359 entries, eleven are stamped "Unaffiliated HS" by the tournament, and only two of those eleven reach a profile on file. The nine without one include the best high school runs in the field: Tommy Wurster went 4-1 and Matthew Dailey 3-2. Both of those two are out-of-state, so neither belongs in a North Carolina count; the other seven are unidentified either way. Until each one has a school and a class year on file, none of them are in the 23 or the 38-47.

Seven wrestlers have no school on file. Six of them are at the Cougar Open, all confirmed high schoolers by the tournament's own grade print, and one of those went 4-2 and placed fifth at 141. The seventh is Bennett Evans, 1-2 at 141 at Pembroke: a North Carolina wrestler in the class of 2028, but with no school on file he is not among the twelve counted there. A school guessed from a club stamp is not evidence, so all seven stay out of the North Carolina number until a roster or a school names them.

The 2022 counts are research, not our files, and the years in between are missing. We hold these three tournaments for 2026 only. The 2022 editions were counted name by name against NCHSAA and NCISA records, and those brackets carried no grade column to sort high schoolers from the rest of the field, so the five at Pembroke is a floor: the fewest North Carolina high schoolers we can prove were there, not a census. We hold nothing at all for 2023, 2024 or 2025, and North Carolina wrestlers did enter these events in those years. The four-year comparison is two end points, not a year-by-year trend, and nothing in this piece is a wrestler's first trip to a college open.

Only wrestlers with a current class year are counted. An open's field includes post-grads, college redshirts and club coaches, and several of the brackets at these three events were won by them. A club or regional-training-center stamp on an entry means nothing about age either way, so the line is drawn at a class year of 2027 through 2030 and nothing else.