The Texas USA Wrestling Freestyle and Roman Greco Championships were held last weekend in Arlington and, when the competition ended, Lake Highlands was well-represented on the podium stand.

Lake Highlands High School Wildcat wrestlers, graduating senior Ebrima Njie and freshman-to-be Thayer Atkins, both won gold medals in their respective weight classes.

They attended the competition as members of the Dallas Dynamite Wrestling Club.

The unique partnership between LHHS Head Wrestling Coach, Pete Grieder, and Olympic-medalist Dynamite Coach, Jamill Kelly, has enabled both Thayer and Ebrima, and other LH wrestlers, to continue training and competing beyond the spring wrestling season.

With respect to Ebrima, he finished off his high school career with two gold medals at the championships in the 215 lbs. weight class in both Freestyle and Greco Roman.

Ebrima, who is a two-time state qualifier for the Wildcat wrestling team, picked up his first gold medal at the championships in the Greco Roman competition by defeating his opponent with a pin in the first round and a technical fall in the second.

Impressively, Ebrima did this without allowing any points to be scored against him.

In the freestyle competition, Ebrima employed a "powerbomb" throw to register another tech fall. The second day ushered in yet more success for Ebrima with a pin in the first round and a 6-0 tech fall in the second.

Coach Kelly is proud of what Ebrima accomplished at the championships.

"Ebrima had a great weekend,” said Coach Kelly. “He dominated and really put a stamp on the end of his high school career.”

LHJH eighth grader, Thayer Atkins, who recently returned from the National Middle School Duals where he competed with Team Texas National Team as the top wrestler in Texas at 110 lbs., also took gold at the Texas USA Championships.

As a freestyle wrestler, he competed in the 112 lb. Schoolboy Division and dominated a weight class that is one of the toughest in the state.

On Saturday, Thayer decisively won his matches 6-0 and 7-1. His success continued on day two with a pin in match one followed by two technical falls in matches two and three, which sent him to the finals.

The finals match was an impressive one for Thayer as he was matched-up against Stephan Moreno of Austin, the current 100 lb. state champion for collegiate style wrestling and a worthy opponent.

Thayer dominated Moreno, taking the match without allowing any points scored against him.

"Thayer wrestled a strong, smart match,” said Coach Kelly. “He stayed in a good position and took advantage of scoring opportunities.”

Thayer is looking forward to a change of scenery in the fall as he moves over from the LHJH to the LH Freshman Center to begin his high school career. Meanwhile, Ebrima has made plans to wrestle in college for Wayland Baptist University.

Congrats to Ebrima and Thayer!

GO ‘CATS!