VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Jackson Buck has long been one of the best high school wrestlers in North Carolina, solidifying that fact with a 4A 190-pound state championship this season.

Results from last weekend’s National High School Coaches Association Nationals proved the Lumberton High School senior is one of the best in the country, too.

Buck placed seventh in the seniors 192-pound tournament, earning All-American honors.

“It was a fun tournament,” Buck said. “That tournament has some of the best kids in the country, and that kid that I lost to in the quarterfinals was ranked in the top 15 in the country, committed to a big D-1 university. … I learned a lot, so at this point it’s just getting ready for college and trying to be better every single day.”

Buck reached the event quarterfinals, losing to the eventual champion Trevyn Gates of Pleasant Grove, Utah by a 5-2 decision; he won two of his next three matches to finish in seventh place, beating Gloucester City, New Jersey’s Kaleb Wright with a third-round in the placement match; the pair had previously met in the first round, which Buck won by 13-1 major decision.

“It’s really cool, because the top kids in the country, everybody goes to that tournament,” Buck said. “Good competition, good group of guys. There were 5,500 athletes there, I’m pretty sure, so a ton of kids.”

All-American honors are given to the top eight finishers in each classification at the event; Buck is believed to be the first high school wrestling All-American from Robeson County. The recognition is the latest accolade in Buck’s senior season; he was (53-0) through the high-school season with the Pirates, earning the individual state title and helping Lumberton to a second-place team finish at the NCHSAA 4A state championships in February.

“All these accolades that he’s been collecting this season, it’s a culmination of all the hard work and stuff he’s been putting together,” Lumberton coach James Bell said. “Being able to come back from a surgery like he did and be able to focus and focus in for his final year, it just shows the determination that he had and the way he approached the season this year. It’s a testament to his determination and everything, to put this kind of season together for himself and show how motivated he was.”

All Buck has accomplished is the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of hard work, wrestling since he was a young child.

“He’s been doing this since he was 7, 8 years old,” said John Buck, Jackson’s father and club coach with NC Pride Wrestling. “Weekends, birthdays, traveling up to Virginia and national events on his birthdays, attending camps over the summer while other kids are on vacations. It all comes to this kind of opportunity and obviously it’s rewarding to see that kind of stuff pay off.”

The next step for Buck will be choosing which college program he will compete in. He says he will likely commit in the coming weeks; finalists include NCAA Division-I programs Campbell and Ohio and Division-II programs UNC Pembroke, King and Newberry.

After his first-round win over Wright, Buck beat Zach Miller of New York by 7-1 decision and Michael Toppan of Massachusetts by 6-1 decision before meeting Gates in the quarterfinals. In the consolation rounds, Buck beat Alex Hoy of Maryland by 5-4 decision before a loss to Coy Raines of New York by 11-2 major decision, which put him into the seventh-place bout.

Five other Pirates wrestlers competed in the event. James Ellison (junior 182 pounds) was 3-2 in the event, reaching the second round of the championship and winning two consolation-round matches.

Travelian Hall (sophomore 106 pounds) was also 3-2; the NCHSAA 4A state champion won his first two matches.

Matthew Foil (senior 160 pounds) and Alexander Moody (freshman 106 pounds) were both 2-2 for the tournament, with Foil reaching the second round in the championship bracket and both of Moody’s wins coming in the consolation rounds after losing his first-round match.

Jalen Terry-Winston (junior 285 pounds) lost both his tournament matches.

“It kind of shows how we work — once the regular season ends, you go right back to work on getting yourself ready for the next season and what you want to do beyond,” Bell said. ‘That’s kind of what this is; this is one of the different ways that we do it. … It’s how you get better, it’s how you hone your craft. … You kind of put yourself on a national level like those guys have, and it kind of shows where you are and how you can get better and kind of hone it into the next season.”

NCHSA Nationals are attended by numerous college coaches, from the high-major NCAA Division-I level down to Division-III and NAIA, from all around the country, providing exposure for all of the Pirates wrestlers who participated in the event.