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Just as winter progresses closer to spring, the sports seasons are getting ever closer to changing. Wrestling season in particular is drawing closer to the end, and that means tournaments increasing in their stakes, and the competition becoming more intense. The BHS Wrestling Cats had a good showing last Friday, traveling to Cairo to compete in the individual 4A Region 1 tournament, with the team overall coming in second and four wrestlers leaving as region champs. The Cats faced off against five other schools in the area: Monroe, Dougherty, Westover, Cairo and Thomasville.

The region champs included senior Lawson Singleton in the 132 weight class; junior Josh Fillingame in the 170 class; senior Peyton Edwards in the 220 weight class; and senior Sesan Edwards in the heavy-weight (285) class.

The entire team qualified to compete in the state individual tournament in Dahlonega this weekend, with other notable performances from junior Malcolm Spann in the 126 weight class, as well as junior Brian Pugh in the 182 class, with both placing second in their respective category.

When asked if the boys had practiced anything in particular before the tournament, Coach Chad Smith responded, “We pretty much just stuck to our usual routine. We had some kids really step up.”

“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Smith continued. “One of our best wrestlers, Hunter Harris in the 160 class, missed weight, and that hurt us pretty bad.”

Despite that setback, Smith was still pleased with his team’s performance. “I’m just very proud of the kids for wrestling hard,” he said. “We had a good group of seniors that led the way. Three of the four champions were seniors, and we hope they’ll continue to lead us at state.”

The wrestling team will travel to Dahlonega this Friday to compete in the first round of the state individual tournament.