EVANS - The Long County Lady Blue Tide wrestling team enter the 2025-26 season as one of the top wrestling teams in the state. On Saturday, November 15, they opened the season with a big showing at the Rumble in the Jungle meet at Lakeside High School.

The Lady Tide had a great showing with seven wrestlers placing in the top three of their weight class and the team overall placing second out of the 11 teams competing.

The team had wrestlers finish no worse than sixth in all 12 weight classes with three wrestlers placing first and finishing undefeated for the day.

Freshman Bella Gardner and sophomore Tymiah Powell both went 5-0 in the 115 and 230 pound weight classes while sophomore Aliana Morales went 4-0 in the 135 weight class. All three placed first in their classes.

Placing second were Aleena Clark and Shelby Hoard in the 105 and 145 pound weight classes while Madison Spurgeon and Hayley Jones took third in the 100 and 110 pound weight classes.

The Lady Tide finished second behind host Evans, falling just 1.5 points short of winning the tournament. The Tide finished with 192 points while Evans finished with 193.5.

This is the first of many challenges the Lady Tide will face throughout the season as they will compete in another north Georgia tournament on November 24 at Lambert High School and November 25 in the Lady Panther Duals meet at Jackson County High School in Hoschton.

The boys hit the mat for the first time this year as both teams hosted their first home meet on Tuesday, November 18 against the Brantley County Herons and Brunswick Pirates at Blakely Thornton Gym.