THREE WHEELING Park wrestlers earned All-American status over the weekend during the 32nd annual High School Nationals inside the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Va. From left are Charlie Tamburin, Stevie Mitchell and Erick Brothers Jr. Tamburin was sixth in the Senior division while Mitchell finished fourth. Brothers Jr. was fifth in the sophomore division.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — From West Virginia Class AAA state wrestling champions to high school all-americans in less than a week. That’s what a trio of Wheeling Park High School wrestlers accomplished over the last six days.

Seniors Stevie Mitchell and Charlie Tamburin, along with sophomore Erick Brothers Jr. were all crowned state titlists Tuesday night inside Mountain Health Arena in Huntington. Sunday afternoon the trio all earned spots on the awards podium as the 32nd annual High School Nationals came to a close inside the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Va.

Mitchell took fourth at 152 while Tamburin was sixth at 285 and Brothers Jr. fifth at 220.

“That’s pretty exciting that those three were able to double up as state champions and all americans. That’s pretty rare,” Wheeling Park head coach Brian Leggett said. “This is the first time Wheeling Park has had multiple all-americans in the same season.

“From not knowing if we were even going to have a season because of COVID to being unsure about the state tournament, this is a tremendous way to close our season,” he noted.

Mitchell went 5-2 in a tough senior weight class. He earned pins over wrestlers from Pennsylvania and Georgia in his first two matches. He then won 9-7 over a Colorado kid and 3-2 in the quarterfinals against a kid from Kansas. After dropping a 9-3 decision to the eventual champion, Mitchell decisioned a state champ from New York 9-4 before absorbing a 6-4 reversal to Darlan Estevez of Florida in the 3rd-4th place bout.

“Stevie came down here after an awesome state tournament and wrestled the best I’ve ever seen,” Leggett said. “He had some close matches but was able to win them.”

Brothers Jr., who pinned his way in Huntington in winning a second state title, also went 5-2 in the sophomore bracket.

After recording back-to-back falls in less than a minute over kids from Pennsylvania and Florida, Brothers Jr. dropped a 9-6 decision to Noah Todd of Tennessee in the quarterfinals. He bounced back with a victory and then received a forfeit before falling to a wrestler from Ohio in the consolation semifinals. He ended his journey with an impressive 12-0 major decision over Zachary Evans of Fayetteville, Pa.

“Erick gets better and better each time he steps on the mat,” Leggett said of his 220-pound stud. “It’s pretty cool to watch him go out and dominate kids.”

Tamburin was 5-3 and had to fight his way through the consolation bracket to earn his spot on the podium in the senior division.

He pinned his first opponent from California before falling to a kid from Utah in his next match. He then reeled off four consecutive victories, two of them by 1-0 scores and another by 6-5 in the ultimate tiebreaker. He fell 3-1 in the consolation semis to a North Carolina wrestler and then dropped a 6-5 verdict in his placement match to Jake Andrews of California.

“These were Charlie last high school matches, just like Stevie,” Leggett said. “He wanted to go out on a high note and I think he did that as an all american.”