As far as impressive streaks are concerned, no athletic program in Northeast Georgia has been on a run like the Jefferson High School wrestling team.
Since 2001, the Dragons have reeled off nine consecutive traditional state titles and eight straight duals championships, giving the program 17 state titles in a nine-year span.
The nearly decade-long dominance has not gone unnoticed, and the Northeast Georgia Sports Hall of Fame has named the Dragons “Northeast Georgia’s Most Dominating Team.”
“It’s pretty awesome,” Jefferson coach Doug Thurmond said of the honor. “It’s a real good thing for our program. I’m proud of the guys that put in a lot of time and a lot of effort. It’s nice for them to be recognized.”
It’s especially rewarding since it’s the program getting honored and not just one group of wrestlers. Thurmond said that there is no way to separate one champion from the next, and that the program’s success is because of the dedication his wrestlers have for the sport.
“A lot of it has to do with hard work,” he said “They work hard in the off-season and compete all summer.
“We really don’t treat wrestling as a secondary sport,” he added. “It’s something that they take serious and we take serious.”
And it all starts at a young age.
With four wrestling sons, Thurmond made a point to start a USA Wrestling program in Jefferson and those successful youth wrestlers keep winning once they reach high school.
“We started the USA youth program 12 years ago and that helps a lot,” Thurmond said.
So does the fact that Jefferson continues to win state titles, even after moving up from Class A to Class AA prior to the start of the 2008-09 school year.
Year after year, as champions graduate, future champions take to the mat, and according to Thurmond, they all share the same mentality.
“They don’t want to be the team that breaks the streak,” he said. “We try to remind them to not live on your past teams’ success.”
Those messages are often displayed on T-shirts and the coaching staff at Jefferson never lets the wrestlers forget that ideology.
“We tell them, if you have a chance to win, then you need to do everything that you can to get there,” Thurmond said.
For the past nine years, the Dragons have done just that.
Along with the entire time, a standout team member will be recognized this year as well.
Like just about every Jefferson wrestler, Hunter Garner started young.
“It was the fifth grade, so I was about 11,” Garner said.
And, like just about every Jefferson wrestler in the program’s illustrious history, Garner was successful – though he set the bar high even for a program that is more than used to success.
During his time with the Dragons, Garner won four individual state titles and also helped his team to four traditional and four duals state crowns.
There is no question that Garner, along with his brother Forrest, dominated the prep wrestling scene during his time at Jefferson, earning his way into the Northeast Georgia Sports Hall of Fame’s Elite 10 – honoring the top 10 area prep athletes from 2000-09.
Garner claimed state titles at 140 pounds (2000 and 2001), at 152 pounds (2002) and 160 pounds (2003). He was also named Georgia Wrestler of the Year after his senior campaign.
Garner went on to wrestle at Anderson University, competing in the 165-pound weight class.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
