It was the last match of Chais Schenck’s senior year, the finals of the 2000 4A State Championships.

Across the mat from the East Gaston wrestler stood Brandon Palmer of Riverside High in Durham. The two had met five times during the previous three years. Each time, Palmer won by one point. One tiny point. “And at the end, this last match, I thought, ‘I can not beat this!’” Schenck says of the streak.

“But my parents and my coach believed in me, and in that last match I beat him by three points. I still carry that with me to this day. I can overcome, and that taught me a lot. Keep believing.”

Schenck wrestled at 112 pounds his senior year and at 103 as a junior when he was 4A State runner-up. He was a three-time conference and regional champion and finished his East Gaston career with that state title and 139-20 overall record.

His success has landed him in the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame. “Honestly, its an honor,” he says. “It was a surprise to get that call (from the committee), but at the same time it’s amazing to be recognized. That’s not why I was wrestling, to get into the Hall, but it’s great to know I had that impact in that short a time frame.”

Schenck learned how to wrestle by watching, studying, reviewing moves in his mind. “You hear about football players watching film, and I was essentially watching film without realizing it,” he says.

His older brother, Tius, wrestled for Stanley Junior High, coached by Randall Fortenberry. “And my brother allowed me to start going to practice, so I started learning from watching him when I was in fifth grade,” Schenck says. “I fell in love with it, and watching my brother and Coach Randall gave me the work ethic I had.

“My dad wrestled in high school, so that’s how we found out about the sport. My brother is five years older than me, and he came home after learning wrestling moves and practiced them on me.” Who needs mats when you have a living room floor?

“It was fun. Looking back at it now, a lot of my accomplishments were because of my brother and Coach Randall. I’d also watch my brother’s teammates and study and learn the whole time.”

While wrestling is an individual sport, because of weight classes, it’s also very much the union of a team, and that camaraderie and bond motivated Schenck through high school.

“Winning conference tournaments and regionals, that was always a big deal. Even though I won or placed at States, any time the team accomplished great things, that was good,” he says. “Sophomore year we had the state record for pins. Things like that involve the whole team, and that meant a lot to me. To this day, I consider all of them family. If they called me today, I’d be there tomorrow if I could.

“All the practices, all the traveling, seeing each other outside of school, us pushing each other to be the best we could be… it’s really a family.”

Schenck didn’t pursue wrestling after high school. He lives in Greensboro now, with his wife Courteney and 12-year-old daughter, Zoe. He works for Apple and plays drums in a band, or wherever his music is needed. In June, he traveled to New York City to play two shows with singer Maia Kamil, at The Bowery Electric nightspot near Lower Manhattan then across the Hudson in Montclair, New Jersey. “I’ve always been a musician, and in chorus,” he says, “so I still play.”

Schenck turned 42 in July. He doesn’t wrestle anymore, not even on the floor. After high school, he says, “I told myself I was finished.”

He has people to thank for those high school victories, the teamwork and the friendships. “I want to thank my parents, Earnest and Judy, and Coach Randall Fortenberry and all my high school coaches and all my teammates,” he says. “Even when I won state, I felt like I was winning for everyone.”