SHS hosts wrestling tournament

On Saturday, Dec. 2, the Swainsboro High School wrestling team and SHS mat Catz hosted the Second Annual Matthew Anders Memorial Tournament. This is the fourth overall year of the annual tournament, with the last two years being dedicated to the memory of Matthew Anders. Overall, there were 20 different schools represented in this year’s event.

Teams came from all over the state of Georgia. Among the competition, there were several state medallists and state champions present from all of the five classifications. Among the matches was Swainsboro’s B.J. Taylor defeating Toombs’ Jose Lira to take home a third place finish. Chris Moore, Cornelius Brown, and Derrick Shuemake were the three Tiger wrestlers who made it to the final round of wrestling. Each of these three wrestlers secured a second place finish in the tournament after an outstanding day of wrestling for each of these young men.

Other SHS wrestlers

with an impressive day of wrestling at the varsity level were Michael Singletary, Clayton Faircloth, Brandon Fields, Javon Young, Jonathon Edge, Nigel Cason, Alex Tarver, Samuel Derr, Chris Usery, Jamal Turner and Victor Hall. In the JV portion of the tournament, Wesley Shivers from Swainsboro took home the gold medal on his birthday. Also wrestling in the JV tournament for Swainsboro were Addison Hooks, Hunter Gay, Michael Chalkley, Matthew Chalkley, Belinda Wiggins, Joseph Gomez, Justin Lott, Dustin Fortescue, Wesley Tripplett, Jesse Tapley, Tyler Edwards, Marquis James, and Ricky Worthen. As a team, Swainsboro finished just outside of the top five with a sixth place finish. They were just four points shy of overcoming Dublin for the fifth place spot. This surpasses their best finish in the history of the tournament. Camden County took home the number one place, followed by a tie for runner up between Glynn Academy and Toombs County.

“We would like to give

a special thank you to Robins Federal Credit Union for the generous donation to help support this years’ tournament. We would also like to thank East Georgia College faculty and staff for their strong commitment and support of the Emanuel County schools and Swainsboro High School wrestling program,” said Coach Brandon Jernigan. “It amazes me the amount of support that the entire East Georgia College staff gives to this tournament. From top to bottom, East Georgia College is a first class operation. Several visiting coaches made comments to me about the fine facilities and support services provided by the college.”

Coach Jernigan also thanked the parents and other supporters of the wrestling program and to the Anders/Smith family. “The hospitality room is always coordinated by the Anders family and it is one of the most successful parts of the tournament,” said Coach Jernigan. “Thanks to Mrs. Leslie Johnson and the mat catz for their hard work on coordinating

and running each of the score tables. Mrs. Debbie Edge and a host of other parents that ran an outstanding concession stand which was very successful in raising money for the wrestling program and Mike Gomez for his diligence at attending the admission gate.”

Swainsboro High School Tigers will travel to Treutlen High School this weekend to compete in the Viking Invitational wrestling tournament. Swainsboro Middle School will have its second match of the season with a home event scheduled for tomorrow, Dec. 14 at SMS starting at 4 p.m. “I would like to invite everyone out Monday, Jan. 22 to see the youth wrestling team compete in their sixth event of the season,” said Coach Jernigan. “These are children ages 5 to 10 who compete weekly with other youth from Treutlen County and Toombs County. The next match for the youth is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 8 at Treutlen County.”

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