Photo courtesy of Dawn Harrison.
Mountain Brook’s Gray Ortis hugs head coach Justin Ransom after winning the 138-pound division at the state wrestling tournament Feb. 15. Ortis helped lead the Spartans to a fifth-place finish.
The Mountain Brook High School wrestling team posted a fifth-place finish in the Class 7A state wrestling tournament in Huntsville Feb. 13-15. It was the best mark in program history for the Spartans.
Head coach Justin Ransom said that was his team’s goal heading into the state tournament.
“Our goal this year was to outscore any previous state tournament finish in school history,” he said.
The Spartans had 53 points as a team, just behind Hoover in fourth. Ransom said his team hit its stride at the right point in the season.
“I felt like we peaked at the right time, the mindset was there, and we were confident in our ability to wrestle with anyone in the state,” he said.
The fifth-place finish was in large part due to sophomore Gray Ortis and his weekend at the state tournament. Ortis upset three-time state finalist Sullivan Tipton from Oak Mountain in the semifinals after dropping two matches to him during the season. Ortis finished the state tournament with a state championship win in the 138-pound division over Logan Reaves from Hewitt-Trussville by a 5-1 decision.
Mountain Brook had three others finish in the top four at the state meet. Junior John McKimmon finished in third place in the 182-pound division, and senior Jack Higgins finished in third place in the 195-pound division. Ransom said both battled injuries in the lead-up to the state tournament.
Senior Brett Randolph placed in fourth in the 132-pound division as well.
Ransom said the future is bright for Mountain Brook wrestling and he hopes the program continues to grow to a state title contender.
“Our wrestlers are buying in, we have the program trending in the right direction from our youth, to what Coach [D.C.] Hall is doing at the junior high and high school levels, and the buy-in to the offseason program,” he said. “Our wrestlers are seeing success from the work that they put in both during and out - side of season in the weight room and on the mat. We hope to continue to grow the guys’ involvement in offseason wrestling to be able to compete for a state title as a team in the coming years.”
