Gulf Shores - The Gulf Shores Dolphins varsity boys' wrestling team advanced to the semi-finals of the 2022 Alabama High School Athletic Association Wrestling Duals Tournament, hosting McAdory Jan.18 in The Tank at Gulf Shores High School.
The Dolphins would come up just shy in their bid to advance to Friday's 5-6A Championship at Bill Harris Arena – Birmingham CrossPlex, falling to McAdory 37-24.
"It was a hard-fought match that saw Gulf Shores win 6 of the 14 weight classes and McAdory win 8 of the 14. With the dual playoff done for the dolphins we now set our focus on finishing out the rest of the season which includes senior night Jan. 27, a home tournament Feb. 4-5 and of course the sectional and state traditional tournaments," said Gulf Shores wrestling coach Jonathan Shaw.
Gulf Shores has had a historically successful season. Currently the team is 26-2 in dual meets, team champions at the Gulf Breeze Ryan Blackwell invitational, Enterprise High School Boll Weevil duals champions, 5A-6A Region 1 Duals Champions, Baldwin County Champions.
The outlook for the Gulf Shores wrestling program is bright according to Shaw.

"It always hurts losing seniors, but this team will only lose two, Charlie Hollis and Keeshon Siaosi. With a large amount of the team being built by sophomores and freshman, pod wrestling is poised to make deep runs for the next few years," Shaw said.
Gulf Shores and Bayshore Christian both advanced through the first round of competition last week with the Dolphins defeating Benjamin Russell 49-21 in 5-6A and Bayshore defeating Reeltown 36-33 in 1-4A competition.
Spanish Fort lost in a tiebreaker to Tallassee 37-36 in the opening round of 5-6A competition, while Bayshore saw its season come to an end 42-36 in the quarterfinals against Saint James.
The Dolphins meanwhile advanced to Tuesday night's semi-finals with a 59-9 victory over Tallassee.
Championship competition was held Friday at Bill Harris Arena – Birmingham CrossPlex with Thompson taking on Vestvaia Hills in 7A competition. McAdory faced Arab in 4-5A competition and Ashville took on Deshler in 1-4A competition.
For complete results visit ashass.com/sports/wrestling.