Rumblin’
- Updated: January 4, 2025
Mayfield, Harris get first-place finishes as Cleburne County wins rumbles to victory. Heard most valuable wrestler as White Plains stacks another runner–up finish.
TEAMS
Cleburne County 176.5
White Plains 162.0
Alexandria 144.0
St. John Paul II 143.5
Ranburne 118.0
Wellborn 93.5
Madison County 60.0
Weaver 59.0
Pleasant Valley 25.5
ASB 23.5
Saks 11.0
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
108: Noah Smith (Wellborn) pins Jeremy Lambert (Alexandria), 5:11
115: Ryker Houston (Alexandria) def. Carter Driver (Ranburne), Dec. 6-1
122: Mateo Jimenez (St. John Paul II) pins Brodie Eden (White Plains), 2:47
128: Benjamin Santy (St. John Paul II) def. Jacob Biggers (Cleburne County), MD 10-1
134: Dion Guy (Alexandria) def. Liam Mays (Cleburne County), MD 9-0
140: Nathan Cox (Madison County) pins Hayden Norris (Cleburne County), 2:22
146: Julian Lowe (St. John Paul II) pins Zander Wilson (Wellborn),
152: Gianluca Torres (Weaver) def. Wesley Beebe (White Plains), Dec. 7-6
159: James Heard (White Plains) pins Tristan Page (Alexandria), 0:44
167: Austen Mayfield (Cleburne County) pins Peter Hildebrandt (St. John Paul II), 0:25
177: Ryan Harris (Cleburne County) pins Joseph Gareri (Madison County), 3:22
192: Christopher Weaver (ASB) def. Curtis Daniel (Ranburne), Dec. 7-0
217: Landon Grantham (White Plains) pins Lane Lipham (Ranburne), 0:24
287: Zaden Benefield (Ranburne) def. Hudson Ingalsbe (White Plains), TB-1, 3-1
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
HEFLIN — Area prep wrestling teams have had a busy week, with regional duals, the Calhoun County Tournament and the Rumble In the Jungle.
Cleburne County emerged with a champion’s trophy in its own tournament.
State champion Austen Mayfield and Ryan Harris won their weight classes, and Tigers edged short-handed White Plains 176.5-162 in Saturday’s Rumble In The Jungle, one of the area’s most prestigious regular-season tournaments.
Cleburne County emerged from an 11-team field that shrank because Oxford’s Class 6A duals regional was moved to Saturday, creating a conflict. Oxford also wrestled in the Clint McCall Invitational on Tuesday and Friday’s county tournament.
Three-time defending state champion Weaver won its Class 1A-4A duals regional Thursday and Friday’s county tournament, prompting Weaver coach Andy Fulmer to rest many of his starters Saturday. The Bearcats, which won the 2024 Rumble, finished eighth Saturday.
Gianluca Torres’ first-place finish in the 152-pound class provided the Bearcats’ biggest highlight Saturday.
“Calhoun County’s kids took a beating the last couple of days,” first-year Cleburne County coach Joshua Robinson said. “That kind of helped us out. …
“Overall, I’m really proud of our kids’ effort.”
White Plains, which finished second Saturday after taking second in the county tournament on Friday, went without three wrestlers. Reigning state champion Mason Hahm sat out Saturday after winning his class in the county tournament Friday, resting nagging toe and shoulder injuries.
White Plains coach Todd Manning, voted the Calhoun County coach of the year Friday, scheduled his team’s back-to-back-to-back run on purpose.
“Usually, I try to schedule a three-day grind,” he said. “After region duals, the county tournament and then coming here, it was just like, you’ve got to get up. You’ve got to fight, just like it would be at sectionals or the state tournament, where things are tough and you don’t want to do it.
“This forces you to do it, because your records are on the line. Sectional seeding is on the line for some guys, so it made them come in here and fight. For the most part, they responded well to it.”
White Plains’ James Heard, who took second place in Friday’s county tournament, got his first-ever first-place finish Saturday and walked away as most valuable wrestler. He sees White Plains’ back-to-back runner-up finishes as a sign of the Wildcats hitting stride.
“We were struggling with conditioning,” he said. “We couldn’t really finish matches. Me, especially, I always had trouble finishing a shot.
“I feel like these past three days have taught us that you’ve got to build up the mental game more than anything. We’re almost there with conditioning. I think we’re pretty there, skill wise. I just think we’ve got to double up the mental game, and these three days of straight wrestling have helped us as a team.”
As for Cleburne County, Harris pinned Madison County’s Joseph Gareri at 3:22 of the 177 final, and the Tigers had second-place finishes from Jacob Biggers (128), Liam Mays (134) and Hayden Morris (140).
Mayfield looked the part of a defending state champion. He pinned St,. John Paul II’s Peter Hildebrandt in 25 seconds in Saturday’s 167-pound championship final to improve to 25-0 this season.
“I’ve kind of got a chip on my shoulder,” Mayfield said. “We’ve got plenty of one-timers (state champions), but we don’t have many two-timers.”
Photo gallery by Joe Medley
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