Lugoff-Elgin senior’s dominance guides him to wrestling state title bid

Seth Ham lacked confidence early on during his wrestling career.

That’s not the case now as the Lugoff-Elgin senior enters this weekend’s South Carolina High School Wrestling championships Friday and Saturday at the Anderson Civic Center.

Ham went 45-1 this season and enters the championships as the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the 195-pound class, according to SCMat.

“He has been an outstanding wrestler and, up to this point, he has been pretty doggone dominant,” first-year Lugoff-Elgin coach Ted Monroe said. “He believes he is going to go out and beat anyone who steps on the mat with him. He has gone out there and takes care of businesses and doesn’t let up.

“There might be a match to push him but he is well-prepared from the work he has put in and ready for the challenge this weekend.”

Ham is looking for his third state championship but first for the Demons. He won two SCISA 3A titles at the 182-pound class at Cardinal Newman before transferring back this year to Lugoff-Elgin, where he went as a freshman

“It would be amazing to do that,” Ham said of winning a third state championship. “A lot of people can’t transition from one school to another and can’t keep their composure.

“I just have to keep doing what I have been doing this weekend, keeping God first and not switching things up.”

Ham said he got started in wrestling “by accident” when he was 9 years old with his brother, who later gave up the sport. But he continued with and wrestled in AAU before going on to middle school where he was coached by Monroe.

Ham has verbally committed to wrestle at Newberry and was selected for next week’s North-South All-Star wrestling matches.

“He has been a dominant force on the team. He is a great guy, good character person for the program. Seth Ham is the kind of guy anyone would want part of the program.”

Ham is one of 50 wrestlers from the Midlands to make it to the state championships. Lexington’s Jacob Brasseur (106), Westwood’s Evan Carrigan (132), L-E’s Noah North (145), White Knoll’s Rian Burris (152), Swansea’s Mason Ray (220) and Newberry’s Chris Wadsworth (220) enter the championships ranked No. 1 in their weight class in their classifications, according to SCMat.