Spend much time around the Greyhounds wrestling program, either in the wrestling room, practice or other workouts, and you’ll hear the phrase, “raise the standard” mentioned.
On the heels of a fifth-place finish in last year’s state duals, the goal is straightforward for Jones County. Take last season’s result and build upon it.
“Our mantra since we took over four years ago was to ‘raise the standard.’ We always want to finish better than we did the year before, both as individuals and as a team,” Greyhounds head coach Adam Gillhouse said. “Finishing fifth last year was great, but fifth place does not bring home the trophy. That’s the goal, the get to duals and bring home the trophy.”
Jones County opens the season Saturday in the Harlem Kickoff Classic. An early-season highlight will once again be the Main Street Dual outdoors in downtown Gray on Nov. 30. JCHS will begin 2025 with the Gauntlet in Gray Tournament.
If there’s a reason to look for that’d express optimism for JCHS in eclipsing last year’s showing, one resides in proven experience. On the roster are previous state placers David Little, Hunter McCleskey and Arrie Martin.
And then there’s a group of freshmen working their way into the flow of things as well, a group including Noah Pieterick, Shooter Lumley, Nate McDaniel and Nate Wilson.
Though new to wrestling on the high school level, they come in not just with success as middle schoolers, but also have spent time logging time in the wrestling room on the edge of the high school campus. That, Gillhouse explains, gives them a leg up over a typical ninth-grader new to a high school level of things.
“All of them were in our room last year, and that’s the great thing how we set up practice here,” Gillhouse said. “That helps us fast track them so that when they get here, they’re not having to learn the flow of practice or our technique. They’re ready to roll.”
Having wrestlers with a good amount of mat time is something that Jones County’s coaches are banking on making a difference.
“We feel good about where we are, we feel a little ahead of where we were last few years,” Gillhouse said. “We have so many guys back, and they kind of understand our system and flow and practice.”
There will be an element of hurry up and wait for part of Jones County’s roster. That’s because those to have wrestled last year include football players like Jacob Skinner, Hunter Hardwick and Luke McCoy.
And as long as the Greyhounds continue on in the playoffs, those wrestlers won’t be yet available to wrestle. So, during the part of the season ahead of the Jan. 11 region duals at Locust Grove, the Greyhounds aim to take advantage of a silver lining of the situation – a chance to give other wrestlers not just time on the mat, but a chance to go against the emotion of competition so that they will be ready later in the season in case of injuries and other adversity.
“The top half of our lineup will look different in January than it does now, but all the guys in our room are working hard and competing,” Gillhouse said. “That’s the big thing now. ‘How are you getting better and how hard will you be to take down?’”
