Gilmer High School wrestlers finished first in their final tournament before this week’s region duals.
GHS traveled to Murray County High School Saturday for a traditional tournament and nearly lapped the field. Gilmer had four champions and won the 16-team event with 261 points. Lumpkin County was a distant second with 147.5.
Gilmer coach Josh Ghobadpoor was happy to see the Bobcats dominate the competition, but that was not his focus.
“To win by almost 120 points is a pretty good day, but it wasn’t necessarily about that as it was getting great mat time and getting prepared for this Saturday (region duals),” he said.
“We got a little more rest over the break than we normally do. This is the first time we stepped on the mat — aside from practice — since the Bradley Central tournament (Dec. 21). I thought we wrestled really well, and it was good to see some guys back in the lineup at the right weights.”
The tournament allowed teams to enter more than one participant per weight class, and GHS took 19 wrestlers. All Gilmer wrestlers won at least two matches, and 15 placed in the top four of their respective weight class.
Bobcat champions included seniors Gustavo Morales (106 pounds), Lucas Lopez (120), Caleb Waddell (170) and sophomore Miguel Jacinto (132).
Junior Brock Sumner (138) took the mat for the first time this season after suffering an injury in the preseason and placed second. Sammy Tercero (220) was a finalist as well and recorded a runner-up finish.
Winners of the consolation finals for third place were Bobcats Bartolo Lopez (106), Carson Bentley (113), Gabe Reimer (126), Hunter Brown (160), Abel Jacinto (182) and Tony Olea (285).
Taking fourth were Gilmer’s Jose Velasquez (152), Chad Weaver (195) and Luke Morgan (220).
Bobcats Zac Domingo (113), Ronald Pierce (138), Diego Jacinto (145) and Mike Owens (195) also earned wins for team points but fell short of placing.
Gilmer’s junior varsity wrestlers attended the Battle of the Bluff at Cherokee Bluff High School in Hall County. GHS won the dual tournament and posted a 5-0 record with wins over Rabun County (78-6), North Forsyth (65-6), West Hall (51-21), Habersham Central (78-6) and Cherokee Bluff (52-24) in the finals.
“I told the guys we should walk away with two championships this weekend as far as varsity and JV,” Ghobadpoor said.
“We have to get the mindset that we have to start winning tournaments and finishing them. We have to have that mentality and start scoring points. We need our role players to step up because we’ve had some guys who have been very consistent and some who have shown a lot of ability. We need those guys to step up, and I feel like they absolutely did that.”
Gilmer will host the Region 6-4A duals Saturday at the GHS gym. Ghobadpoor discussed their final preparations, saying, “At practice, we know what we have to do to get prepared for this week and next week (state duals). A lot of that is just staying healthy, and we’re going to start hitting on some things we worked on earlier in the year. We want to make sure we’re mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for big matches.”
The region duals will begin Saturday at 9 a.m.