GREYHOUNDS GRAPPLERS
With experienced wrestlers such as James Rackley, Chi Anderson, Carson Lumley and Jackson Brown, the Greyhounds already have a handful of wrestlers with plenty of mat time in the high school ranks.
Each of them posted strong showings, both in terms of placement and other strides at Saturday’s John Robbins Invitational at Morgan County. Joining them, however, were a group of freshmen that helped Jones County finish third behind Ola and North Oconee.
“We had some freshmen do really well,” Greyhounds head coach Adam Gillhouse said.
Leading that group of ninth-graders was Arrie Martin’s first-place win in the 138-pound weight class, Garrett Green being second at 215, Peyton Thompson being third at 120 pounds and Jacob Skinner’s fifth-place showing at 165 pounds.
Thompson’s outing marked a strong showing in the lower weight classes, where Hunter McClesky was third at 113 pounds, Brown was fifth at 138 and Carson Lumley’s 3-1 record got him a second-place finish on the day at 144 pounds.
“Our message was to compete, we wanted them to go out and compete and wrestle hard and have a relentless effort,” Gillhouse said. “The biggest thing was not so much placement, but how hard they competed. Our whole team competed top to bottom, really well.”
Rackley was third, a loss coming to a state runner-up while Anderson took second at the 175-pound class. In the 285-pound bracket, Evin Brock and Jack Miller finished third and fourth while the JV 126-pound weight class had John Rackley finishing first.
Jones County heads home for its next competition, hosting teams from all over the state in the Gauntlet in Gray, slated to begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Teams will include those from the southern edges of the state in Valdosta and Glynn Academy as well as Jackson County, from Northeast Georgia. Jackson County is ranked second in AAAAAA and Valdosta was the AAAAAA runner-up last year and is now in AAAAAAA.
“It’s exciting that we can have people around the state come here, it says a lot for where we’re headed as a program,” Gillhouse said. “When teams like Valdosta and Jackson are willing to come here, it means a lot.”
The event, which makes a return after last year, is one that Gillhouse says would not be possible without all of the work and support, some behind the scenes, from parents, school staff and administration as well as the community.
“We have great support, our administration is super supportive, our middle school coaches and our assistant coach, coach (Tony) Monroe do a great job,” Gillhouse said. “Between them and our parents, once the whistle blows, I’ll be able to just coach wrestling. It kind of runs itself, because we have a great group of parents.”
