Tallassee Senior Land Bell Chasing Another Wrestling Championship and Perfect Season
AHSAA Wrestling Championships start Thursday at Huntsville with two Girls’ Divisions for first tim
By Josh Bean | for the AHSAA
BIRMINGHAM, AL – Tallassee High School senior Land Bell can cap one of the most dominant three-year runs in AHSAA wrestling history by winning a third straight individual state title at this week’s 80TH annual AHSAA Wrestling Championships in Huntsville.
Bell has won 131 consecutive matches entering this week’s event, which begins Thursday at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. He won the Class 5A 132-pound title as a sophomore, captured the 144-pound title as a junior and is 53-0 this season in the 150-pound weight class.
Bell’s 131-match win streak ranks seventh in AHSAA history, according to the AHSAA Record Book online.
“Land is blessed with all of the tools to be a dominant wrestler,” Tallassee coach John Mask said. “He is fast, quick, strong, disciplined, and a very gifted athlete. Put all of those things together with him also having a strong work ethic and being a team leader and you have a very, very special wrestler.”
Bell’s championship chase is just one of the notable storylines for this week’s AHSAA Wrestling Championships, which begin Thursday and end Saturday. Individual championship matches in all classifications are scheduled to start Saturday at noon.
Here’s a look at several other compelling storylines to follow:
Girls’ Champs for 1st Time: The officially sanctioned girls’ wrestling championships will be awarded in two divisions – Classes 1A-5A and 6A-7A.
Weaver and Cleburne County won Class 1A-5A Super Sectional titles last week, while Daphne and Thompson won the Class 6A-7A Super Sectional titles.
Enterprise senior Evelyn Holmes-Smith will be closing out her prep career in this week’s championships as the only female wrestler in AHSAA history to win more than 130 matches. She is 31-1 this season – but comes in to this week’s historic championships never losing a match to another female wrestler in the AHSAA. Holmes-Smith has won four individual girls’ wrestling championships from 2021-2024 – while girls’ wrestling was still an emerging sport. This year she can win a fifth.
4-peat in Class 1A/4A? Weaver High School has won the last three Class 1A-4A titles, and the Bearcats enter as a top contender after winning last week’s North Super Sectional.Gianluca Torres (150 pounds) and Brandon Joliff (285 pounds) won individual Super Sectional titles with seven other Weaver wrestlers finishing as section runners-up.
Four different schools – Mountain Brook, Mortimer Jordan, McAdory and Gardendale – have won the last four Class 6A titles. In Class 7A, Huntsville is going for a repeat after winning the team title in 2024 to become the first school not named Thompson, Vestavia Hills, or Hoover to win the state wrestling title in the largest classification since 2004.
Chasing perfection: More than a dozen wrestlers carry an undefeated record into this week’s state tournament. In addition to Tallassee’s Land, Huntsville’s Yanik Simon (34-0) is chasing a second straight Class 7A 150-pound title and third straight overall. He won the 132-pound title in 2023. He is 86-0 over the last two seasons.
Gardendale’s Demarcus Powe (47-0) is also chasing a second straight title. He won the Class 6A 138-pound championship in 2024 and moved up to 175 pounds this season.
Other undefeated wrestlers include New Hope’s Layton Pohl (40-0) at 190 pounds, Oak Grove’s David Hill (47-0) at 126 pounds, T.R. Miller’s Brody Hayes (37-0) at 138 pounds, Cleburne County’s Austin Mayfield (39-0) at 157 pounds, Scottsboro’s John Stewart (29-0) at 144 pounds, Vestavia Hills’ Andrew Sullivan (22-0) at 175 pounds, Tallassee’s Zachary Crosthwait (59-0) at 190 pounds, and Saint James’ Pruitt Conner (31-0) at 175 pounds.
Notable undefeated wrestlers on the girls’ side include Weaver’s Lena Johannson (36-0) at 145 pounds, Cleburne County seventh grader Avalena Williamson (31-0) at 100 pounds, Grissom’s Jessalyn Allen (28-0) at 120 pounds title, and Daphne’s Juliana Eldridge (32-0) at 114 pounds.
FEATURED IMAGE: Tallassee senior Land Bell (on top) will be grappling for his third straight AHSAA State Wrestling title Thursday as the 80th Wrestling Champinships get underway
(AHSAA PHOTO | David Holtsford)
