Boyd-Buchanan's Zane Williams, left, celebrates his state wrestling championship with his dad, Wes, a volunteer assistant coach for the Bucs. Williams became the first-ever Boyd-Buchanan wrestler to win a state championship this past February at the state tournament in Franklin, Tenn.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photo
Boyd-Buchanan has never been known as a powerhouse in high school wrestling, but first-year head coach Shane Turner is in the process of changing that.
The Buccaneers don’t have a practice area to call their own and they don’t even own a complete mat, but that’s about to change as well.
The Boyd-Buchanan wrestling story reached a new high about three weeks ago when Zane Williams earned the first-ever state championship on the mat.
The Bucs had six wrestlers this year and four qualified for the state tournament. Three of them earned medals, but none any bigger than Williams, who capped off a sensational season with a 4-3 win over Chattanooga Christian’s Justin Wheeler in the 152-pound championship.
Williams has been wrestling since he was five and this year was his third year to take part in the state tournament. He won two matches as a freshman, but didn’t earn a medal. He suffered his second ACL injury as a sophomore and wasn’t able to wrestle, but came back to finish fifth at 160 last year.
And now, he fulfills a life-long dream of becoming the first state champ in the history of the school as he finished his final season with sterling record of 45-2.
“I’m pretty ecstatic over how things turned out. Justin and I have been wrestling each other since the seventh grade and we’ve probably wrestled at least 10 times. This year we met three times and he beat me 3-2 during our first match before I beat him 1-0 in the region final.
“We worked all week preparing for that last match. I knew I had to stay calm and I was real relaxed. I got the first takedown and later escaped to go up 3-0. I got penalized for stalling before he got a reverse to make it 3-3, but I got an escape with about 30 seconds left in the match to win,” Williams relived that unforgettable experience.
“I was at my peak for the state tournament as I felt like I could compete with anyone in my weight class. I got an extremely good draw,” the son of Wes and Kelia Williams remembered.
High school wrestling is now a thing in the past for him, but that doesn’t mean his athletic endeavors have ended. Most folks don’t know but this young man is a big-time participant in rodeo activities.
He specializes in calf roping and steer wrestling and he’s gotten pretty good in team roping with his cousin Will Watkins, also a senior at Boyd-Buchanan. He’ll be competing a couple of times this month and is pointing toward the national finals in Wyoming, which will be held in July.
And he has plans to attend Lee University in the fall where he wants to study pre-med as he works toward becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
“It’s nice to have little kids look up to you as I try to be a good example and it’s also nice to finally win a state title. I set that as one of my new year’s resolutions when I was in the second grade, so it’s something I’ve been working toward for a long time,” the Boyd-Buchanan senior class president admitted.
Turner has coached more than his share of state champions during his career on the sideline, but none any more significant than the latest.
“Zane is one of the most remarkable young men I’ve ever been around as he’s smart, he’s athletic and a true Southern gentleman. He’s what I’m hoping my two sons will grow up to be like. We couldn’t ask for a better representative of this school, but he’s just an outstanding human being,” the coach praised while taking a break this week in the school’s student center.
“He’s not the most gifted athlete I’ve ever been around, but he’s a tough wrestler and a real grinder. He’s not overly quick or powerful, but he’s a gamer and very coachable as he bought into what we had to suggest concerning his diet, his cardiovascular workouts and pre-season lifting.
“I told him that he’d have to win a bunch of close matches to win the state and that’s exactly what he did. He doesn’t blow anybody away, but he’s hard to score on. We just hope he has one more point than the other guy when the final whistle blows.
“He’s done a lot for this program and this school as he’s set the bar pretty high. But being a state champion in wrestling is now attainable and if he can do it, others can too. But he’s as mentally tough as anyone I’ve ever coached,” Turner continued.
“Zane had no workout partner, no practice room and no full-time coach and he’s been through two ACL procedures. He had every reason for failure, but he refused to accept any of them. The pressure was building as he was running out of time, but he finally reached the goal he had set so many years ago.
“I was probably more excited for that win than any other as we finally broke the ice. This school deserves to have a state wrestling champion and every person here is part of it.
“This program is headed in the right direction as we’re getting ready to break ground on a new fitness building that will include a wrestling room and a new weight room. There will be no more wrestling on the stage,” Turner concluded with a smile.
Zane Williams has been a student at Boyd-Buchanan for the past 13 years as he got started in the pre-K program. His time on this campus will end sooner than later, but what a mark he’s made during his time there.
And while the success of the Buccaneer wrestling program continues to grow in the coming years, Zane Williams is the first to ever win a state title.
And that’s something nobody will ever forget.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Boyd-Buchanan head wrestling coach Shane Turner leaps into the arms of assistant coach Wes Williams after the Bucs' 152-pound wrestler, Zane Williams, won Boyd-Buchanan's first-ever state championship. Wes is Zane's father.
photo by Dennis Norwood/File