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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – As the road to the state championship heats up, Thompson, Chelsea, Oak Mountain, Spain Park and Shelby County earned impressive performances at the Southeastern Pools at Thompson High School on Jan. 12-13.

The Warriors walked away with a second-place finish behind only Georgia’s Dalton, while Chelsea finished in fourth, Oak Mountain came in fifth, Spain Park took sixth place and Shelby County earned seventh place.

Thompson’s performances were highlighted by first-place finishes for Henry Betke in the 140-pound division and Avery Clark in the 192-pound division.

Betke finished 5-0 with two victories by fall and one by technical fall in the road to the championship.

As for Clark, he went 3-0 on the weekend with two pins followed by a major decision in the finals.

The Warriors had another group of wrestlers reach the finals of their divisions as Will Atkinson, Jordan Weltzin, Turner Hutson, Nick Dempsey and Marley Cholewinski all took home runner-up finishes.

Elsewhere for Thompson, Austin Owen, Paxton Miller and Wyatt Massey each overcame an early loss to place third, Gunner Atkins and Rylan Davis came in fourth place of their divisions and Jaiden Moore, Braylen Johnson and Tristian Hinton each scored points with a fifth-place finish.

Chelsea took home a fourth-place finish as a team thanks to Adam Cornwell finishing in second in the 159-pound division and a pair of third-place finishes from Harrison Brakefield in the 167-pound division and Porter Schott in the 192-pound division.

Cornwell went 2-1 on the weekend, including a win by a fall against Hoover’s Shaun Sutton, Brakefield was 3-1 with two falls and a major decision win and Schott took one win by a fall and another by a decision.

Oak Mountain walked away with a fifth-place finish as a team as Trey Denny and Quinn Ivey each earned first place in their divisions.

Denny went 3-0 in the 115-pound division with a decision win over Dalton’s Dominick Parks, a win by a fall over Hoover’s Nicolas Frazier and a first-place match decision win over Thompson’s Atkinson.

As for Ivey, he also went 3-0 with a pair of wins by falls against Shelby County’s Garrett Slaughter and Daphne’s Ethan Curry.

Jameson Thomas improved to 28-3 on the season with a third-place finish in the 108-pound division. He took three wins by a fall, including in the third-place match against Northridge’s Andrew Rath.

The Eagles also had a pair of fifth-place finishes in Brady Coggin and Jesse Palmer. Coggin earned three wins in the 140-pound division, including a major decision and a decision in the consolation bracket to take fifth place.

Palmer went 3-1 in the 152-pound division with a fall win over his teammate James Pihakis and decision victories over Shelby County’s Logan Loyd and Thompson’s Wyatt Carroll, with his only loss coming to Thompson’s Dempsey, who was the runner-up.

Spain Park’s Kyle Oliveira and Bradley Williams kept their perfect seasons alive with first-place finishes in their divisions that helped the Jags come in sixth in the team standings.

Oliveira went 3-0 in the 217-pound division to improve to 31-0, and he defeated Daphne’s Judah Barley and Thompson’s Atkins with first-period pins before winning a 2-1 decision over Dalton’s Styker Woods in the first-place match.

Williams is now 32-0 after taking three wins by fall and one win by technical fall for a 4-0 weekend in the 152-pound division. He capped off his tournament with a first-period pin against Thompson’s Dempsey.

In addition, Hayden Hannah and Josh Milazzo each earned third-place finishes in their divisions.

Milazzo went 3-1 in the 128-pound division, earning two wins by fall before adding a third against Daphne’s Ethan Curry in the third-place match.

Hannah also went 3-1 with two victories by pins against Hewitt-Trussville wrestlers in the opening rounds and a decision win over Daphne’s Jacob Sweet in the third-place match.

Shelby County came in seventh place thanks to four wrestlers who placed in the top three of their divisions.

Cole Sykes improved to 35-1 with his first-place finish in the 177-pound division. He won three matches by falls to start the tournament before taking a decision over Northridge’s Donny Burnett in the finals.

Xander Shook finished in second in the 167-pound division after he made a run to the finals with wins by fall, major decision and technical fall. He is now 30-4 on the season after going 3-1 on the weekend.

Nick Sykes is now 33-3 after a third-place finish in the 134-pound division. He went 3-1 in the tournament with all wins coming by way of a pin.

Keith Castleberry was Shelby County’s other third-place finisher after he went 2-1 in the 217-pound division. His quarterfinals win was by technical fall and his third-place match win came from a 16-second pin over Thompson’s Atkins.

In the girls meet, Thompson finished in second place as a team, Montevallo came in third and Chelsea finished eighth.

For Thompson, Lynleigh Weltzin won the 120-pound division and improved to 29-3, Alicia Whitman finished in first in the 126-pound division and Aenaya Vines came in first in the 138-pound division and is now 31-6.

In addition to those three wins, four Warriors took second place, including Natalee Black in the 132-pound division, Mary Martin in the 107-pound division, Kaydence Seigler in the 100-pound division and Gissell Trejo in the 152-pound division.

Also for Thompson, Kelsey Seigler finished in third in the 114-pound division and Estella Islas came in third in the 145-pound division.

Montevallo’s best finisher was Amylia Thomas, who earned second place in the 114-pound division with four wins coming by way of a fall.

Chelsea’s Heather Butler improved to 26-2 with an unbeaten 3-0 record during the weekend in the 152-pound division. All three wins came from first-period falls.