Greensboro, n.c.
In 2019, the N.C. High School Athletic Association held its first invitational wrestling tournament exclusively for female wrestlers.
The event featured 81 girls the first year, but this year that number grew to 182 wrestlers. Also in 2019, a sophomore from Uwharrie Charter in Randolph County became the first female to place in the N.C. High School Athletic Association individual wrestling state championships.
In 2019, wrestling against the boys, Heaven Fitch placed fourth in the 106-pound division of the 1A state championship. In the consolation finals, she lost to Lejeune’s Stephen Mainz in a 9-1 major decision.
Fitch came back this year as a junior, again wrestling in the 106-pound division. This time she stayed in the championship bracket.
In the first round, Fitch beat Starmount’s Austin Jones, pinning him at the 2:00 mark. She went on to knock off North Stanly’s Hunter Fulp in the semifinals with a 9-4 decision, advancing to the state championship match on Saturday night.
Fitch faced Robbinsville’s Luke Wilson in the state championship. After being beaten in the consolation finals in a major decision last year, Fitch won the state championship with an 11-3 major decision this year.
“I thought as a freshman I wouldn’t even have a winning record, and to do this now, I would have never thought of it,” Fitch said.
Not only did Fitch finish the season with a 54-4 record, she was the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 1A state championship and became the first female wrestler to win an individual state championship in NCHSAA history.
“I’m just really overwhelmed … It’s like insane what I’ve done, it’s not fully sunken in yet,” she said.
Fitch, who was also part of the Uwharrie Charter dual team state championship in 2019, will have a chance to defend her title next season as a senior, which would make her the first female two-time wrestling state champion.—AP
