By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

The Thompson Warriors wrestling team has created a dynasty of sorts over the last several years and is now closing in on a milestone mark.

Following three wins in a national tournament before the new year and another big area win against the Oak Mountain Eagles on Wednesday, Jan. 2, the Warriors now have a total of 492 wins and are eight wins away from the 500 mark.

During the knockout duals in Florida before the new year, Thompson took down Chariho High School from Rhode Island 43-21, Freedom High School from Florida 69-5 and Hillcrest High School from South Carolina 54-19.

The Warriors then went on to finish seventh in the bracket part of the tournament with a total of 133.5 points, which was less than 60 points behind first in a tightly contested event featuring 39 of the best wrestling teams from around the country.

Following that tournament, Thompson returned home for an area road matchup with the Oak Mountain Eagles and picked up a dominant win losing just two matches to pick up win number 492.

The only two weight divisions the Warriors lost in the matchup were in the 113-pound weight class and the 138-pound weight class both due to forfeit where Patrick Neal and Cole Burrough were awarded wins for the Eagles.

Starting in the 106-pound division, Yanni Vines was able to put four points on the board for Thompson with a 15-5 major-decision win against Kirk Smitherman.

Dylan Lesueur was able to continue his incredible season with a 9-1 major-decision win in the 120-pound weight class.

The first tightly contested matchup featured Thompson’s Chandler Akin and Oak Mountain’s Sullivan Tipton, two of the state’s best wrestlers. Akin, however, was still able to pick up a solid decision win for the Warriors with a score of 7-0.

Seth Gatlin was able to pick up the first pin for Thompson in the 132-pound weight class against Dylan Stallworth for six points in the score column.

Derek Hussey (160), Isaac McAdams (220) and Aubrey Glidewell (285) all three added pins in their respective weight class as well to pick up 18 more points for the Warriors.

In the 152-pound division, Josiah Campbell picked up the last major-decision victory for Thompson thanks to a score of 9-0.

One of the closest matches came in the 170-pound weight class between Ashunti Perry and Jacob Gagnon. Perry was able to pick up a tightly contested decision win for the Warriors by a score of 9-4.

That was followed by another decision win for Tyler Gilson in the 182-pound weight class by a score of 7-1 and a 6-1 decision win for Alex Ward in the 195-pound weight class to close out the scoring.