Sometimes, history repeats itself. And that is what happened in four of the state’s five classifications today in the Arena at Gwinnett during the GHSA traditional wrestling state championships.
Collins Hill, Gilmer, Jefferson and Bremen each repeated last year’s state championships. For Jefferson and Collins Hill, it is getting to be old hat. The Eagles have won four straight now in Class 5A while the Dragons have won three straight in Class AA and 11 straight overall (they were in Class A until 2008).
The lone non-repeat winner was Pope, who won their school’s first wrestling state title.
Perhaps the biggest surprise on the individual matchups was the final match of the day when Austin Hagen of Mill Creek surprised Jacob Aikens-Phillips of Central Gwinnett, who won the Class AAAAA state title last year and had won 66 consecutive bouts.
Collins Hill placed a tournament-high seven wrestlers into the finals out of a possible 14. Only two Eagles captured state titles (Sean Russell and Bazell Partridge) but it was enough to clinch the team championship.
Camden County had three individual state titlists, but finished second overall with a 134 team score to Collins Hill’s 227. Valdosta and Peachtree Ridge also had two state champions.
In Class AAAA, Pope had four wrestlers make the finals, three of which won state championships (Cameron Munsey, Jake Henson, Patrick Anthony and Brooks Climmons). Union Grove, which came in second, had two state champions. The Greyhounds scored 136.50 points as a team. Their closest competitor was Union Grove at 90.50.
Gilmer took the Class AAA crown with four total wrestlers in the finals and one winner (Hunter Barnes). They outpointed Heritage-Catoosa (108.50) and Locust Grove (103.00).
The Jefferson Dragons continued their wrestling dynasty by edging Sonoraville 196.50-177. Four Dragons made the finals and two – Cain Finch and Forrest Pryzbysz – captured championships. Meanwhile, four Jefferson grapplers finished third.
In Class A, Bremen took home their second consecutive team traditional title. Ten Blue Devils finished in the top three of their respective classes and four took home state titles. Bremen won the state team title with 205 total points, while Gordon Lee finished a distant second with 116.
Next weekend, the dual wrestling championships will take place at five different locations throughout the state on Friday and Saturday.
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