As state championships for wrestling begin this weekend, Suffolk’s public schools will be represented by six qualifiers and one alternate.

To qualify for state-level competition, wrestlers had to place in the top four of their weight classes at the recent regional championships.

Nansemond River High School had three wrestlers qualify for states, King’s Fork High School had two and Lakeland High School had one, plus the alternate.

Warriors senior 113-pounder Malcolm Dawson finished in third place, as did junior heavyweight Dia Gray, while sophomore 106-pounder Derrick Cannon took fourth. As a team, Nansemond River placed seventh at the Region 5A South championships.

“It was more of a level playing field, I feel like,” Warriors coach Tripp Seed said. While last year in the 4A South region there was a drop-off in competition after the top five teams, this year in the 5A South, “I’d say teams one through 12 were pretty good.”

“Our youth on the team showed this weekend,” Seed said.

As for NR’s established stars, Gray went 4-1 during the tournament but was pinned after five minutes in the semifinal round by Matoaca High School senior Anthony Helm, a two-time state champion.

“And then he came back and finished third, same with Malcolm,” Seed said.

In each of his wins, Gray achieved victory by pin.

Dawson also went 4-1, losing only in the semifinal round by a 3-1 decision to sophomore Anthony New of Salem High School in Salem. Dawson has only two losses this season, both against New.

Dawson won three matches at regionals by pin, and he won the third-place match by a 6-0 decision.

Cannon went 3-2, with narrow losses by decision, a narrow win by decision, as well as wins by pin and major decision.

Cannon, Dawson and Gray will compete in the Group 5A state championships on Friday and Saturday at Oscar Smith High School.

King’s Fork had six wrestlers competing at the 4A East region championships.

“The whole team wrestled well at regionals, really well,” Bulldogs coach Jason Dunaway said. “And all of them we were within one match of going to states.”

Making the cut were sophomore 182-pounder Dennis Whitehead, who finished third, and senior heavyweight Travius Cheeks, who finished fourth.

“Dennis wrestled excellent,” Dunaway said, noting Whitehead went 4-1 at regionals, his only loss coming by a 9-5 decision against Hanover High School senior T.J. Allen, a two-time defending state champion.

The coach also praised Cheeks for wrestling well as he went 3-2 in the tournament. His only losses were narrow ones by decision.

Cheeks and Whitehead will compete in the Group 4A state championships on Friday and Saturday at the Salem Civic Center in Salem.

Nine wrestlers from Lakeland made it to the 3A East region championships, and Cavaliers coach Nathan Hoffman said he felt pretty good about their performances.

“There was only two kids that didn’t get to the second day, so most of our team made it to the second day, and a lot of kids won a couple matches,” he said. “I was hoping that we might bring one or two more (to states), but next year we’re going to have six seniors, so I’m excited about next year, and I was excited about how we did this year.”

Lakeland senior Kevin Dale finished fourth at regionals after going 3-2 in the 132-pound weight class, and junior Ziquan Edwards finished fifth, going 3-2 in the 138-pound weight class.

Edwards is an alternate, who could compete at states if, for example, another 138-pound wrestler is injured or does not make weight.

Dale and possibly Edwards will compete in the Group 3A state championships on Friday and Saturday at the Salem Civic Center in Salem.