The Long County Blue Tide wrestling teams made history this weekend as they competed in the preliminary rounds of the state wrestling traditional tournament. The girls team had three girls compete in the preliminaries and advance to the finals tournament while the boys team had 11 compete in the preliminaries and four advance.

On Friday, February 7, the girls competed in their prelims with each needing to finish in the top four of their weight class to guarantee a spot in the next round.

Kaiden Boshers, Sala Tiapula and Tymiah Powell all competed, with the latter two finishing in the top four and Boshers finishing in fifth.

Boshers, wrestling in the 130-pound class, lost her first round match by an 8-7 decision before winning her first round match in the consolation bracket by first round pin.

She lost the next match by first round pinfall, meaning she could only make the state finals as an alternate. She won the fifth place match by first round pin.

Tiapula, wrestling in the 190-pound class, won her first match by first round pin but lost her second match by first round pin.

She won her next two matches, in the consolation semis and third place match, by first round pin to qualify for the state finals.

Tymiah Powell took the match in the heavyweight class and dominated through the bracket. She won her first match by first round pin and her second match by second round pin to get into the first place match.

Powell won the match by 8-5 decision to take first place in her weight class. Powell moves her record to 27-1 with 11 pins on the season.

On Saturday, the boys took part in their preliminary matches and had four advance to the state finals.

Zion Merrill, wrestling in the 106-pound class, finished eighth. He won his first match by second round pin before falling to the seventh place match and losing it by major decision.

Andre Mills, in the 132-pound class, won his first match by second round pin before losing the second by 9-3 decision. He then wrestled his way through the consolation bracket to the third place match.

Mills lost that match by an 11-7 decision to finish in fourth place.

Tjayden Vaughn hit the mat in the 144-pound class and advanced to the semifinals with a tech fall victory and second round pin before falling by first round pin.

Vaughn lost his consolation semifinal match by second round pin and fell in the fifth place match by second round pin to finish in sixth place.

Mareon Montgomery hit the mat in the 190 pound class and dominated through his first three matches, winning all by first round pin in less than a minute.

In the first place match, Montgomery fell by first round pin to finish in second place.

The four boys who finished in the top eight and the two girls who finished in the top four all qualified for the state finals. Boshers will advance as an alternate.

The state finals tournament takes place at the Macon Centreplex Thursday, February 13 through Friday, February 14.