GREYHOUND GRAPPLERS
Competing at home against teams that gave them ample chances to progress forward, Jones County’s wrestlers continued to raise the bar of expectation at the Gauntlet In Gray. After going 2-0 in their pool, the Greyhounds took a tight win against East Laurens prior to being topped by Glynn Academy and Jackson County, two of the top five teams in AAAAAA, to wrap up the day at 3-2.
Jones County wrestles the next two weekends at the Papa Wayne Duals in Hiram and Yellow Jacket Duals at Jeff Davis in Hazelhurst prior to hosting Putnam County Dec. 6.
“We want to win in everything we do, but we also want to compete and get better,” Greyhounds head coach Adam Gillhouse said. “The young guys are fighting and competing really hard. The goal against good teams is to expose our kids to something new each week. We saw improvement of what we were working on the week before. That’s the goal, to get better each week and keep learning.”
Chi Anderson at 175 pounds and Will Agudelo at heavyweight were among the standouts record-wise on Saturday, both going unbeaten, with one of Anderson’s wins coming against a returning state champion in the dual against East Laurens. Kameron Spencer went 4-1 at 190 pounds. Arrie Martin, who usually wrestles at 138 pounds, moved up to 144 and was among those for JCHS starting the day 3-0.
“We had a vacancy; he had been at 138 pounds and went up to 144 and fought hard for us,” Gillhouse said. “He sacrificed for the team; that’s exciting to see. That’s what’s fun about duals, guys wrestling and doing what it takes to help the team.”
That East Laurens win also came as the Greyhounds were put into a clutch situation as a team. With wins against Dodge County and Mount de Sales in their pool, the 2-0 record moved Jones County into the next round of pool competition in a group with the event’s top teams. That meant drawing East Laurens, and the dual match went down to the wire with the final match, putting Hunter McCleskey in the 113-pound bout. The freshman didn’t flinch, getting a pin to win the match.
“Hunter had to win his match. He knew that, and he wrestled with a different kind of focus,” Gillhouse said. “It’s exciting to see a freshman step up like that. When he pinned his opponent, he had a look in his eyes that said that he was going to pin his opponent, no matter what.”
The Greyhounds set the tone early in their pool, starting with a 69-12 win against Mount de Sales as wins were picked up by Landon Pittman, Peyton Thompson, Aiden Lipford, Jackson Brown, Arrie Martin, Jack Carr, James Rackley, Jacob Skinner, Chi Anderson, Kameron Spencer, Garrett Green and Agudelo.
McCleskey was among the winners in a 60-17 victory against Dodge County with other wins, either on the mat or via forfeit going to Thompson, Martin, Brown, Andrew Profitt, Rackley, Anderson, Kolby Bunce, Green and Agudelo.
Wins against East Laurens came via McCleskey, Thompson, Lipford, Brown, Martin, Carr, Anderson, and Agudelo. Rackley, Anderson, Spencer and Agudelo took match wins against Glynn Academy with Anderson, Agudelo and Spencer also doing so against Jackson County.
