On the field of Bryant-Denny Stadium, fresh off Gulf Shores’ undefeated football state championship, sophomore linebacker Landon Everett called his shot that he would add a state wrestling title this winter. He delivered on his promise only 72 days later.

Just 1:18 into the second round of his finals match against Lincoln’s Rhett Walters on Saturday in Huntsville, Everett scored a pin to earn the Class 5A 190-pound crown.

“It’ll be a great offseason, I’m going to have to work a lot but it’s going to be tough,” Everett said on Dec. 7, 2023, in Tuscaloosa. “I’m going for three rings this year with wrestling too.”

With a football state championship ring, Everett added the individual wrestling state championship ring but fell just short of the third ring as team champions where the Dolphins finished fourth in Class 5A.

Seven more Gulf Shores wrestlers earned podium finishes to help rack up 117 points which ranked 13th regardless of classification. The Dolphins earned four bronze medals (Abel Brantley in 106, Noah Guthrie in 132, Taylor Cheek in 138 and Weston Reed in 175) and three fourth-place finishes (Rhys Coulter in 113, Ethan Sharkey in 126 and Sam Schepker in 285).

Hill’s bronze ties Elberta’s best finish

Jaedon Hill became just the second Elberta Warrior to log a third-place finish at the state championships and joined Montevallo signee Colton Sullivan who did so last year in the 145-pound division.

In the 285-pound division, Hill beat Tallassee’s Braden Arnold off the bat with a 2:26 fall before a 7-4 decision loss sent him to the consolation bracket. There, he delivered a 1:43 fall win over SCC’s Michael Gomer and capped things with a 6-2 decision win over Gulf Shores’ Sam Schepker.

The 6-foot-7 athlete cemented his commitment to the Jacksonville State football team on February’s Signing Day.

Daphne Trojans place four on podiums

Daphne sent 10 wrestlers to the state tournament and four of them ended on the podium between two fourth-place finishes and one fifth- and sixth-place finish each. The Trojans finished with 51 team points which ranked 40th overall.

Micah Swiger (106) and Toby Hymel (138) both finished fourth, Owen Eiland (157) logged a fifth-place spot and Colton Rainer (190) registered sixth in Class 7A. Eiland won two matches and bounced back from a loss with a consolation win, Hymel won three straight matches in the consolation bracket, Rainer won two in a row with his back against the wall and Swiger earned one win on both sides of the bracket.

Baldwin County duo logs top-six spot

Two-thirds of Baldwin County’s state qualifiers earned podium finishes while the third made his college decision.

Joaquin Crook finished fourth in the 132-pound division with a fall loss and Nick Portis finished sixth in the 138-pound division with a decision loss. Alia Vickrey, a Seacrest Furniture Athlete of the Week, fell in his first two matches in the 157-pound division but thereafter announced his pledge to wrestle for the Montevallo Falcons.

Orange Beach, Bayside Academy each have lone individual medalist

Both Orange Beach’s Hayden Scelson (126) and Bayside Academy’s Noah Breland (215) recorded fourth-place finishes in the Class 1A-4A bracket.

Scelson rattled off three straight wins from the consolation side of the bracket to make the finals. Breland earned a win in the first round then bounced back from a loss with another win on the consolation side to earn his trip to Saturday’s finals.

St. Michael’s Crosby makes state trip in program’s debut season

The St. Michael Cardinal wrestling team wasted no time making history in its debut season as Sam Crosby became the program’s first state qualifier in Class 1A-4A’s 215-pound division. He fell in his matches to Corner’s Brandon Murphree and Cleburne County’s Will Johnson on Friday.