The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:41 AM

As a boy six years ago, Prescott Conway told his dying mother, Shelley, that one day he would become a state wrestling champion.

Now a high-school senior, Conway this season posted an impressive 49-2 record at Williams Field High, a Higley district school in Gilbert. He was the top-ranked wrestler in Arizona for his weight class headed into this month’s state tournament.

The 170-pounder was so dominant that he pinned his opponents in roughly half of his wins.

So when the Division III high-school wrestling championship got under way last week, it appeared the assurance Conway gave his mother as a 12-year-old might just come true.

“I promised my mom I would be a state champion,” said Conway, now 18. “I had high hopes, and it was looking good for me.”

But there is no happy ending to this story. And it is one that other young athletes have experienced when an injury, sickness or a questionable call dashes their hopes of going all the way for a title.

Conway had contracted ringworm on his neck before the state tournament, and when he weighed in on Valentine’s Day, the Arizona Interscholastic Association disqualified him.

The AIA, the governing body of Arizona high-school sports, had postponed sectional wrestling tournaments this month because of an outbreak of skin infections among wrestlers, prompting concerns that the infections could spread at the state tournament.

On Feb. 7, the AIA told schools that when competition restarted “any athlete with a suspicious skin lesion will not be permitted to participate in competition.”

When competition resumed last weekend, Conway was among a dozen wrestlers from four high-school divisions disqualified because of skin conditions at sectional and state tournaments, said Chuck Schmidt, AIA chief operating officer.

The tournaments continue this weekend for the two divisions with the largest schools.

“I feel badly for this young man,” Schmidt said. “But if kids had skin lesions, they were not allowed to participate.”

Schmidt said AIA would have been criticized had it let wrestlers with skin infections compete and endanger other wrestlers.

Travis Fentress, Williams Field’s wrestling coach, said Conway knew going into the state tournament that there might be questions about the ringworm, so the athlete sought medical care.

Fentress said a doctor examined Conway and cleared him to wrestle, giving the athlete a “skin sheet” to show he was not contagious.

“It appeared to be healed, and it was perfectly fine,” Fentress said.

“He still had spots from the ringworm, but the skin was flaky and he was told by a physician that the ringworm was dead.”

But Fentress said an on-site AIA doctor at the state tournament raised concerns about Conway’s skin, and an official ruled Conway ineligible.

The athlete broke into tears. Fentress said he appealed to the AIA tournament director to no avail.

Having Conway out of the tournament doused Williams Field’s hopes of winning a team state championship because it was unable to obtain the points that Conway would have compiled by winning his matches.

“It was pretty drastic for our whole team,” said Fentress, whose team finished sixth among 49 schools.

“When the kids found out that Prescott couldn’t wrestle, it took the wind out of our sails.”

Despite being knocked out of the meet, Conway didn’t leave and go home.

“I cried for about an hour. It was pretty devastating,” Conway said.

“But I had to stay positive at the tournament and to cheer for my team.”

Fentress said Conway exhibited character despite the personal setback.

“He’s a phenomenal athlete and person,” Fentress said. “He is one of those athletes who is a dream athlete who any coach would want.”

Conway said he will graduate in May, and he hopes to wrestle in college after serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I’m trying to keep a positive outlook on things and have high hopes that things will turn out better in the future,” Conway said.