Three wrestlers represented Dawson County High School at the State Traditional Wrestling Championships at Infinite Energy Arena (formerly The Arena at Gwinnett Center) in Duluth Feb. 11-13.
Tigers Wyatt Smith (106 pounds), Kelton LeBaron (113 pounds) and Jeremy Whalen (160 pounds) wrestled well for Head Coach Arron Haynes.
Smith, a freshman, won his first round match over John Davis (20-18) from Westminster in a 10-1 decision.
In the second round, Smith lost to Devin Mullinax (37-6) from Banks County before recovering for a pin over Mason Adams (23-21) from Morgan County.
In the fourth round Smith was eliminated by Justin Kiss (28-5) from Callaway High School.
Another freshman, Kelton LeBaron, won his first two matches by decision.
In the first match LeBaron (33-15) defeated Ethan Rohrer (40-17) from Ringgold in a 6-3 decision.
LeBaron then won an exciting second round victory over Jordan Silvey (45-20) from Oconee County by a 7-6 score.
In the third and fourth rounds, LeBaron wrestled hard, but lost to Ricardo Santana (48-7) from Toombs County.
LeBaron was put out of the tournament by eventual state champion, Hunt Tyler from Sonoraville. Tyler finished the tournament with a 35-3 record.
Junior Jeremy Whalen (37-10) finished the tournament with a 2-2 record.
Whalen won his first round match over Jake Ross (16-3) from Pepperell. In the second round Whalen lost a close decision to Christian East (32-17) from Calhoun.
In the third round, Whalen defeated Kevin Hurtiz (19-7) from Sonoraville in a close 6-5 decision.
Whalen then wrestled Mason Corbett (37-11) from Jefferson and lost in a major decision.
Jefferson High School won its 16th straight state championship under the tutelage of Coach Doug Thurmond.
The Dragons, with 273 points, easily outdistanced second place Ringgold, 119.0 points.
Finishing in third place was Morgan County, 107 points, and in fourth place was region foe Banks County with 84 points.
Dawson County came in 29th place as a team with 18 points.
The season is finished for the Tigers.