In the past 45 years, there have been seven state wrestling champions from Darlington School. This year, the Tigers decided to step it up a notch, taking six wrestlers to the
Class AA finals in Gwinnett in mid-February. Five of these athletes won medals, including two state championships, leading the team to a fourth-place finish.
To head wrestling coach Kelly McDurmon, this came as no surprise. “We have five seniors on the team with excellent leadership qualities; that’s why we made it,” he said. “When you have students on your team who are capable of getting Air Force Academy appointments, you have a team capable of going far.”
At the beginning of the year, McDurmon and the other coaches sat down with the team and set goals for the season. Throughout the workouts, training and practice, he made sure the team focused on these high goals and did everything to accomplish them.
In the 140-pound weight class, senior Jake Hussein was determined to finish his senior year with nothing less than a state championship. The other state champion, senior Luke Hyder, completed his unbeaten 50-0 season with a decisive 11-1 major decision in the 171-pound finals. After watching their teammates win medals at state last year, Hussein and Hyder made a pact do everything better this year, in their final season.
“We promised each other that we would do whatever it took to hang that gold metal around our necks,” said Hussein. “I practiced and practiced until I got to the point where I was comfortable wrestling anyone who stepped on the mat. A year later, our promise to each other held strong as we both stood high on that podium.”
For Hyder, success came as a culmination of years of training and endurance. “Being recognized as the best in the state is the goal of every young wrestler who sets foot on the mat,” he said. “For me to finally accomplish this feat after nearly a decade of extremely hard work was an experience that is beyond words.”
This year, the wrestling coaches noticed this drive was very present in the state winners. “Both Jake and Luke are in top-notch shape and have tremendous work ethic,” said McDurmon. “They do things like work out with the football team and run the bleachers when it isn’t required. They hate to lose, and when you combine that with self-motivation, you can accomplish great things.”
Other winners included sophomore Korey Pitts (103-pound state runner-up), sophomore Michael Cosgrove (160-pound fourth place) and senior Trey Edwards (189-pound fifth place), all of whom have been wrestling since elementary school.
The amount of experience these athletes have between them has been a notable factor in their success. After practicing with the same teammates over several years, they have built a tight-knit relationship that has developed into solid wrestling.
“It is said that a wrestler is only as good as his drill partner, and I know that I would not have been anywhere near as tough without Trey and the other members of the team pushing me through practice,” said Hyder.
Cosgrove said his coaches have had a huge impact on his success. “They have always supported me and let me do my thing on the mat while coaching me at the same time,” he said. “To come out of the state tournament No. 4 and know that I still have two years left with them is just thrilling and exciting thing to think about.”
McDurmon agrees that the fruition of the team’s work is a collective effort. “Our success revolves around dedicated coaches like Skip Saunders, who has been great at getting scouting reports from other schools,” he said. “Coach Craig Kipp prepares the kids mentally and has always been really in tune to how they are feeling. He keeps me up-to-date on things that I may sometimes not see. Together, the three of us have worked hard to develop a mutual respect between the athletes and ourselves. If we ask the wrestlers to do it, we make sure they see us doing it as well. We are all a team and we want to be seen as one.”
