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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – As a score of Shelby County wrestlers descended on Virginia Beach, Va. for the 2025 NHSCA High School Nationals, Thompson’s Elizabeth Rosenstiel stood above the entire nation as she claimed a girls wrestling national championship.

Rosenstiel won the girls 132-pound division on Sunday, March 30 to headline a large group of local All-Americans.

Thompson’s Will Atkinson and Aenaya Vines and Spain Park’s Bradley Williams also placed at nationals to join Rosenstiel as All-Americans.

The boys were divided by grade level while the girls competed as one group with brackets for each weight class. In the senior division, Shelby County’s Nick Sykes, Helena’s Kenyon Clements and Thompson’s Jordan Weltzin and Jaiden Moore hit the mat.

Oak Mountain’s Trey Denny and Jameson Thomas, Spain Park’s London Ford and Thompson’s Austin Owen competed in the sophomore division, Oak Mountain’s Collin Denny was in the freshman bracket and Thompson’s Lynleigh Weltzin and Ava Nguyen took part in the girls tournament.

As for Rosenstiel’s successful run, she started the tournament with a pair of pins, first in the second period at the 3:02-mark in the Round of 64 before earning a third-period win at the 4:28-mark in the Round of 32.

However, she had to win on points the rest of the way in her final four matches of the tournament. After taking an 8-0 major decision in the Round of 16, she secured a tighter 5-2 win in the quarterfinals before emerging from the semifinals with a 9-0 major decision.

From there, she faced off with Tennessee’s Mariana Bowen in the finals and earned a pair of takedowns and a reversal to secure the 9-0 major decision and the national title.

Her teammate Vines secured All-American honors with a seventh-place finish. She reached the Round of 16 before dropping into the consolation bracket, where she eventually won the seventh-place match over Florida’s Eysis Estes Brinson by a 59-second pin.

Thompson’s Will Atkinson earned fifth place in the freshman boys 120-pound division. He cruised through the opening rounds of the tournament, earning four technical falls on the way to the quarterfinals. He nearly secured the fifth in that match but settled for a 14-0 major decision.

He ran into some adversity in the semifinals when a pair of reversals by Pennsylvania’s Deklan Barr led to a hole that Atkinson couldn’t climb out of and a 5-3 decision.

Atkinson then secured the fifth-place match win over New Jersey’s Christian Ramirez thanks to a second-period escape that helped him win 1-0.

Williams represented Spain Park in the junior boys 152-pound division and took eighth place. The undefeated state champion rolled through his first four matches, starting with two major decisions before winning back-to-back technical falls to advance to the quarterfinals.

However, he suffered three takedowns against Utah’s Austin Paris, the eventual national runner-up, in the quarterfinals to drop a 12-8 decision. He then lost a 4-2 decision in the seventh place off a first-period takedown against Pennsylvania’s McKaden Speece.