LENOIR—We've all heard the saying, "there's no 'I' in team." On Saturday, that saying was changed to, "but there is an 'I' in individual."

Individual wrestlers got to showcase their skills, and for once get individual notoriety for it, in the Catawba Valley Athletic Conference tournament held at Hibriten High. The tournament is a bracket-style, double-elimination tournament, where individuals compete for conference supremacy in their individual weight classes. "It's a tournament that's for braggin' rights," Ed Clark, Newton-Conover's head coach, said.

The day began at 9 a.m.,with 118 kids from 10 schools—Bandys, Bunker Hill, Fred T. Foard, Hibriten, Hickory, Maiden, Newton-Conover, Patton, St. Stephens and West Caldwell—who were seeded and put into their respective weight classes. In the first few rounds, there was three matches going on at the same time, on three different mats. Once the field had been narrowed down to the consolation finals, one of the mats was removed, and two matches could be seen at once. Once the third-place finishers were determined, another mat was taken up, and the 14 finals matches were at the center of the gym, with a giant spotlight hovering above them like a disco ball.

Getting to the finals is pretty difficult—some could wrestle up to four matches in a day's time to reach their goal of champion. But something harder than that was the wait. Tee Lee, a 119-pound wrestler for Bunker Hill, who is currently ranked sixth in the state and won the CVAC tournament title for his class, said he got really "antsy" and "worn out" from waiting all day to wrestle in his championship match. The championship matches began around 5 p.m.

But for 14 individuals, the day-long wait paid off, as they took home braggin' rights as the CVAC's best wrestlers in their weight classes. Lee said a season's worth of "giving 110 percent in practice" is what allowed him to finish the conference's best 119-pound grappler. He also said it was his conditioning—"running and push-ups"— that allowed him to make it through the long day, and season, to defeat Bandys' Jordan Armstrong. "It's great," Lee said. "I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life."

For Newton-Conover's Andrew Reinhardt, Saturday was all about reaching goals. Reinhardt, who was named the conference's wrestler of the year, used Saturday to achieve one of the three goals he has set for himself—CVAC title, dual-team state title and individual state title. He won his 215-pound match with Zoi Ouhellette of Hibriten, giving himself the honor of being the top wrestler in his class this year. On top of that, the coaches voted Reinhardt the CVAC's best wrestler, and he was awarded a plaque during the awards ceremony. "(Winning an indivdual title) was definitely one of those goals I set at the beginning of the year," he said. "Now it's time to work towards the goal of a state title."

Although Reinhardt, who won his title this weekend while battling strep throat, is now focused on helping the Red Devils win the state 2A dual-team title, he allowed himself to relish the moment on Saturday, and enjoyed the spotlight. "That's just what I love about wrestling," he said. " You focus on the team, but when it comes down to it, it's just you out there."

Reinhardt said he was surprised he was voted the league's top wrestler, but said it's a testament to how good wrestling is in the CVAC.

Now with Saturday gone, wrestlers from Hibriten, St. Stephens and Newton-Conover can focus on one thing—winning a state dual-team championship. "It's all about the team now," Reinhardt said. But on Saturday, it was all about him, and 117 other wrestlers, trying to be the best.