Local wrestling teams advance 37 to GHSA Traditional State Championships

The four local high school wrestling programs advanced 37 competitors to the GHSA Traditional State Championships with successful qualifying completed this past Saturday. The boy's teams from Adairsville, Cartersville, Cass, and Woodland have 34 wrestlers moving forward to the finals brackets while three local girls competitors, two from Cartersville and one from Cass have also advanced.

A dozen of the local boy's qualifiers won their respective weight class brackets at GHSA State Sectionals Saturday held at LakePoint in Emerson and Dahlonega's Lumpkin County High School.

Cass led the way with eleven wrestlers advancing to the Class 5A state finals 12-man brackets. Seven of the eleven won their weight classes at LakePoint and two were runners-up.

Cartersville's Shadre Hurst and Woodland's Beau Jernigan finished first and second at Saturday's GHSA State Sectional B held at LakePoint in Emerson.

Winning their weight class brackets Saturday were Colonels Lee Camp (106), A.J. Piatt (113), Cole Hunt (120), Jake Crapps (126), Bryce Kresho (138), Tyler McKnight (145), and Zach McKnight (170).

Kriecg Roe (160) and Parker Dunn (182) both finished second. Eli Doolittle (152) and Tripp Adams (195) placed sixth for the Colonels.

Woodland had nine competitors to advance with three weight class winners and three runners-up.

Caleb Henson (152), Cole Cochran (160), and Charles Higdon (195) were weight division winners for the Wildcats. Carson Bailey (126), William Bishop (132), and Beau Jernigan (285) finished second. Randy Buchanan (138) placed fourth to advance. Kwadrus Wilson (220) finished fifth and Jeremiah Rhodes (182) took sixth for the Wildcats.

Also at LakePoint, Cartersville grabbed six spots in the Class 5A finals bracket with heavyweight Shadre Hurst winning the 285-pound bracket. Grant Adams (4th, 106), Eaiden Neal (3rd, 113), Giles Turner (3rd, 138), Camden Geer (6th, 126), and Talan Nix (6th, 132) were the other wrestlers advancing for the Canes.

At the Class AAA State Sectional B in Dahlonega, Adairsville’s Isaac Linley won the 132-pound division to pace eight Tigers’ qualifiers in the top six. Jaxson Owens (120) placed second while Jamori Speights (145), Jaimon Long (182), and James Lynch (195) nailed down finals’ bracket spots with third place finishes. Howard Bailey (138) and Luke Story (285) advanced with fifth place finishes. Ethan Blome (160) was sixth.

The GHSA Traditional Wrestling State Championships take place Thursday through Saturday at the Macon Centreplex but all the local competitors will complete their tournaments Friday night.

Tyler McKnight of Cass won the 145-pound division at Saturday's GHSA Class 5A State Sectional B at LakePoint.

Cass won the GHSA Team Duals state title last month while Woodland finished fourth. Both teams will be top contenders again for team titles at the Traditional Championship along with Ola and Woodward Academy.

“Woodland, Woodward, and Ola — they’re all very good,” responded Cass head coach D.L. Koontz when asked about the top Class 5A contenders. “Woodward Academy has four studs that I would expect to see reach the finals; Ola is simply solid all the way through their lineup; and we all know how good Woodland is and has been. Again, all those teams are good. No one can afford to slip up.”

Adairsville earned a fourth place finish at the Class AAA Team Duals. The Tigers will seek to make up ground on favorites Gilmer, Rockmart, and Sonoraville at the Traditional Championships. Gilmer, who won the State Duals, qualified a dozen individuals for Macon while Rockmart qualified eleven. Sonoraville, third at Duals, earned ten spots in the finals’ brackets.

Adairsville wrestlers in Class AAA will hit the mats Thursday morning with all bouts through the championship semifinals and consolation semifinals completed by noon. The consolation finals and state championship bouts will be Friday night.

In Class 5A, Cartersville, Cass, and Woodland wrestlers will begin competition Thursday afternoon for bouts through the consolation and championship semifinals. The finals will be Friday evening beginning at 4 p.m.

In addition to the boys state tournament, three local girls will compete for state titles this weekend.

Cartersville’s Elora Waterman (102) and Anetra Witherspoon (197) have earned spots in the Girls State Tournament. Abigail Gentry (122) of Cass will also be in competition.

The girls 16-wrestler championship brackets begin Friday afternoon with the consolation finals and championship bouts scheduled for Saturday morning.