Gilmer High wrestlers had an action-packed four day schedule ahead of Thanksgiving.
The boys made their way to Allatoona High Nov. 19 for the annual Blackbeard Duals. The highly-competitive event drew some top teams once again, and GHS finished with a 4-1 record for fifth place.
Meanwhile, the Gilmer girls attended the Lady Spartans Tournament at Campbell High. GHS came away with 10 placers, which included four champions.
They were then at East Coweta’s Tomahawk Tussle Nov. 21. GHS had another strong day, and came away with four first-place finishers and had eight placers overall.
The Bobcats headed south Nov. 22 to the Etowah Duals. The Bobcats faced teams from larger classifications all day and posted a 3-2 record for third place as they dealt with some injuries toward the end of the tournament.
Boys
At Allatoona, Gilmer was grouped with the host Buccaneers and Alexander High, and the Bobcats earned respective wins of 60-21 and 54-23.
Gilmer was then placed in the top bracket and fell to Chestatee, the No. 2 ranked team in Class 4A, 48-21. The Bobcats bounced back to earn wins over Blessed Trinity (56-21) and Cass (48-32). Bobcat Diego Jacinto went undefeated on the day.
“This ended up being a very tough tournament,” said head coach Josh Ghobadpoor. “We had to beat Cass, who won the state championship in 5A, for fifth place. That was probably the toughest tournament we’ve been to from top to bottom.”
North Paulding won the event over Creekview, Chestatee was third and Woodland took fourth.
At Etowah, the Bobcats went 3-0 in their pool with victories over North Gwinnett (49-22), Cartersville (58-18) and Etowah (60-9). Once seeded, Gilmer fell to Mill Creek (51-18) and Creekview (48-32).
Bobcats Carson Farist, Hunter Brown and Frisly Ambrocio all posted undefeated records at the event.
“This tournament was very tough as well,” Ghobadpoor said. “Mill Creek is a very good 7A program right now. We were down some guys late in the tournament due to some injuries. If we had everybody healthy, we probably would have been able to compete better versus Creekview.”
Ghobadpoor noted that wrestlers will continue to follow their weight descent plan and should be at their optimal weight following Christmas. GHS has an 11-3 record and traveled to Dawson County at press deadline.
Girls
Seventeen teams were in attendance at Campbell, and all wrestlers took the mat for at least four matches.
Gilmer’s champions included Leticia Tercero, Felisha Yarborough, Carmelina Tercero and Taylor Scheisser, while Linda Tercero was a runner-up.
Josephine Royer finished third, Allie Mayo claimed fourth, and fifth-place finishers included Juana Tercero, Itzzy Xec-Luna and Piper McCormick.
East Coweta’s Tomahawk Tussle also drew a crowded field two days later.
“There were 20 teams at this tournament, and most of them were different from our previous tournaments, which is great since there is only one classification with the girls,” said coach Stacy Galloway. “Our girls are being tested at every tournament thus far, and I hope this continues to be the case as the season progresses.”
Coming away as the best in their respective weight class were Royer, Leticia Tercero, Linda Tercero and Scheisser. Next up were Sarai Solis (second), McCormick (third), Mayo (fourth) and Yarborough (sixth).
GHS has already competed in three events this season as wrestlers continue to rack up valuable mat time.
“Some of our girls have wrestled more matches this year than they did in the past two seasons combined, and we still have a lot of wrestling left on the schedule,” Galloway noted. “It is amazing to see how girls wrestling is growing here in Georgia, and in Gilmer County.”
GHS will head to North Atlanta High School Saturday for its next event.