By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

ALABASTER – The Thompson wrestling Warriors hosted the 2016 Southeastern Pools, which took place from Jan. 15-16, and saw teams from Alabama, Florida and Tennessee come to compete. The Warriors finished as the top county team at the meet and second team overall with 518 points behind Baylor (Tenn.). Oak Mountain came in third in the meet with 478.5 points, while Chelsea came in ninth with 234.5 points and Pelham finished 13^th out of 13 teams with 87 points.

Thompson had nine wrestlers finish in the top three of their respective weight classes, including six runners-up and three champions. TJ Rayam, Nicholas Mobley and Dominic Latona were the three Thompson wrestlers to finish in the No. 1 slot. Latona won the 126-pound class with a tech fall win over Blake Randle of Oak Mountain, Mobley won the 195-pound class with a decision win over Isaac Shafer from James Clemens High School and Rayam won the heavyweight, 285-pound class with a win by fall over Daniel Bland from Benjamin Russell.

Rayam won each of his matches by fall save for a single decision over Riley Bodine from Baylor (Tenn.) Thompson had 44 wrestlers take part in the meet, although only got scoring from 14 wrestlers.

Oak Mountain had eight wrestlers finish in the top three of their respective weight classes, including five runners-up and two winners. Michael John Harris and Barrett Blakely placed first in their respective weight classes, while Randle, Carson Lester, Hall Morton, Coleman Reeves and Jaried Buxton all finished second. Harris beat Austin Atchley of Baylor (Tenn.) by major decision in the finals of the 138-pound class while Blakely beat Terence Perkins of Prattville High School via decision in the 160-pound class. Oak Mountain had 20 wrestlers competing in the event, but got scoring from just 14.

Aaron Ledbetter placed third in the 126-pound class for Chelsea and was the Hornets’ top competitor. He was knocked out of the race for the 126-pound title by Randle of Oak Mountain, who was in turn beaten by Latona of Thompson. Ledbetter did beat Deacon Cowart of Athens High School via fall in the consolation match.

Alex Montgomery placed fifth for Pelham in the 195-pound class and was the Panthers’ top wrestler at the meet. He beat Spencer Norris of Athens High School by decision in the fifth place match to give Pelham 32 points by himself.