NEWBERRY, S.C. -- The 2021 season was far from ordinary for the Newberry wrestling program, but it was capped off with senior Isiah Royal capturing the program's fourth individual championship. As a team the Wolves finished with a perfect 8-0 record in dual meets, and won their sixth consecutive conference championship and their ninth super region championship while qualifying six athletes for the Division II national tournament.  

"If you would have told me we were going to have potentially the best season in school history I would have thought you were crazy," head coach Cy Wainwright said. "With all the stuff that has been going on this year with COVID and me personally it has been a challenge, a blessing and I am so grateful to have had support from our Newberry community, Newberry college, and Coaching staff to help us have a milestone season."
 
The season got started on Jan. 10 when the Wolves, then ranked no. 12 in the nation, topped Mount Olive 37-11 behind pins from Zach Shupp (125 pounds), Will Evans (157 pounds) and Armando Acosta (184 pounds). That win boosted Newberry into the top-10 nationally heading into a triangular against Liberty and Emmanuel. They would end up winning both of those, marking the program's first-ever win over the Flames. The Emmanuel dual was never in doubt, as the Wolves won the first three matches, and ended up winning eight of 10 including Brandon Dickman picking up a tech fall win at 197 pounds. 

The Wolves then had another road dual, this one against Belmont Abbey. The Wolves won the first five matches against the Crusaders, including a fall at 125 pounds courtesy of Shupp and four major decision wins. Despite Belmont Abbey winning three of the final five matches, the Wolves had built up enough of a lead to hold off the Crusaders. That set Newberry up for their first home dual of the season against the Queens Royals, which they would easily win 50-4 behind four pins and three forfeits.  

After comfortably beating Limestone 25-12, the Wolves hosted Lander on Feb. 20 in a dual that would decide the conference champions. Newberry jumped out to a 9-3 lead early, but Lander would win the next six matches, setting up a winner-take-all battle at 141 pounds. It came down to the third period, but Royal was able to win 8-4 over Zeke Marquez to clinch yet another conference title for the Wolves. They would wrap up the regular season with a 32-18 win over Coker, securing their first-ever undefeated season. 

The Wolves competed in their first individual competition of the season on Feb. 27 when they wrestled at the Super Region II tournament. It would end up being a successful day for the Wolves, as they had three individual champions (Austin Neal, Caleb Spears and ZeBrandon Gant) a pair of second-place finishers (Shupp and Evans) and a third-place finisher in Isiah Royal, who received a wild card berth to the national tournament, giving the Wolves a total of six national qualifiers and the super region championship, their ninth overall and their second in the last three years. 

Prior to the national tournament, the Wolves brought home significant hardware from the South Atlantic Conference Carolinas. All six wrestlers who qualified for the national tournament were named to the postseason all-conference team, with head coach Cy Wainwright winning the conference coach of the year award in addition to his super region coach of the year honor. Five of the Wolves (Shupp, Neal, Royal, Spears and Gant) were first-team honorees, while Evans was named to the second team at 157 pounds. 

Royal would end up stealing the show at the national tournament, entering as the no. 3 seed. He got his tournament started with a 5-3 decision in the quarterfinals before narrowly winning 4-3 in the semifinals, returning him to the national championship match for the second consecutive tournament. (The 2020 tournament was cancelled prior to starting.) He faced off with Joey Bianchini of St. Cloud State and battled in a highly competitive match, but in the end, it was Royal who stood on the mat with his hand raised, claiming Newberry's first national champion since 2010, and just the fourth in program history.  

Evans also had a highly successful tournament, claiming his first-ever All-American honors with an eighth-place finish. He picked up a win over Chase Luensman of Upper Iowa, needing just 1:14 to pin him. Evans finished the season with a 11-5 record, with five wins via fall and a 6-1 mark in conference matches. The Wolves have now had someone place at the national tournament every year since 2008, and have had an All-American at every weight class.