By Tim Mastro

LEWES — The program for the DIAA individual wrestling championships is going to need some rewriting after all the history made on Wednesday night at the 2021 edition of the tournament.

Four wrestlers won their third-career state title Wednesday night at Cape Henlopen High as 39 wrestlers have now accomplished that feat. The night also saw the first-ever championship match between a pair of two-time state champions and the first eighth grader to win a state title in the meet’s history.

Smyrna’s Gabe Giampietro (113 pounds) and Joey Natarcola (160) earned their third state championships along with Caesar Rodney’s Kevin Hudson (285) and Caravel’s Alex Poore (152).

Of those four, both Giampietro and Poore will be back for another year to attempt to join the four-time state champion club. Only 10 wrestlers have done so in Delaware and the state has not seen a four-time winner since Smyrna’s Brent Fleetwood from 2011-2014.

With the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back the start of the season, Giampietro said there were times when he was unsure if he would even had the chance to compete for No. 3 this year.

“I honestly doubted we would have a season this year and I’m beyond thankful that we did,” said Giampietro, who won in the finals with an 8-0 major-decision. “I was very nervous if we would have one or not, but we tried to do the same thing as every year and just grind it.”

Natarcola, who also was awarded the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler award, had to wait until the final match of the night for his third title. It came against Caravel’s Nick Hall, pitting two two-time champions against each other which had never occurred at the state meet until Wednesday.

It went into overtime, but Natarcola was able to hit on a double-leg takedown attempt, which turned into a bodyslam to allow him to earn the two points for a 6-4 decision.

“Nick Hall is an amazing opponent,” Natarcola said. “I’ve traveled all over the country with the kid. I’ve seen him since he was probably in fifth or sixth grade. To have the opportunity to have my last wrestling match against him, and for it to end the way it did, it’s an amazing feeling.”

Henlopen Conference wrestlers made up seven of the 14 champions, led by two apiece from Smyrna and Milford. Caravel paced all schools with five winners, including the first eighth-grade champion in Eddie Radecki (106). It sets up Radecki for a chance become to first five-time state champion if he can win every year.

The Buccaneers also topped the team standings with 309 points to win the Division II team title.

Cape Henlopen, led by 145-pound champion Luke Bender, posted 228 points as the Vikings were the top Division I team.

All wrestlers who won a state title on Wednesday also finished the season undefeated. Several finals Wednesday night saw two undefeated wrestlers square off, a byproduct of the shortened season where teams only faced other instate squads.

Hudson became the 11th Caesar Rodney wrestler to win three career state championships when he won his heavyweight matchup via a 5-3 decision.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Hudson said. “I’m honored. I’m just glad we had a season this year, through COVID and everything. Everyday I treated as it could be my last.”

Four more wrestlers earned their second career state title Wednesday — Jack Thode of Milford (126) plus Caravel’s Luke Poore (120), Ethan Grady (138) and Danny Stradley (195).

Thode had the longest match of the night, going to overtime and winning on an escape in the final period.

“I was just thinking about my training,” Thode said. “We work all the time on that and I’m always like, ‘Coach why do we do these overtime drills?’ Now I see why. It paid off, doing all the hard work every day.”

His teammate Trent Grant followed with the biggest comeback of the meet, rallying from a four-point deficit to win a 13-11 decision at 132 pounds. Grant was nearly pinned, but fought out of it for an escape point, was awarded another point due to a stall, got two more for a takedown and two for back points to close out the match.

It was the first title for the senior who finished as a runner-up last year.

“I’m a pretty optimistic person so I believed we would have a season,” Grant said of wrestling through the pandemic. “I didn’t want to lose my last chance at a title. That’s what my whole career has been for.”

Like Grant, Sussex Central’s Josh Negron (182) earned his first title a year after finishing second.

“It was a lot of hard work that went into this,” Negron said. “I wanted to prove myself and win a state championship this year. It felt real good.”

Sanford’s Justin Griffith (170) and William Penn’s Nasir Dreuitt (220) rounded out the seven champions from upstate schools.