Fultondale’s Alec Williams up ends his opponent during the county wrestling tournament last weekend. Williams, now 40-0, took the 152-pound title.

By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



Fultondale senior Alec Williams isn’t a big fan of his past accomplishments on the mat. Yesterday’s wins are ancient history to him. He’s always looking ahead with an eye on improving as a wrestler.

“I’m happy that I’ve had success in the past and I’m very proud of winning two state titles,” Williams said. “But I’m a much better wrestler now that I was last year and I’m so much better than I was two years ago there’s no comparison between then and what I am now.”

Shortly after winning a state championship last season, Williams decided the first goal for his senior season was to finish this year without a defeat. So far, he’s on his way, as Williams is currently unbeaten having posted a 40-0 through last week’s county tournament. But being undefeated doesn’t impress the Wildcat’s senior as much as you might expect.

“Being unbeaten this year is very important to me, but I know if I ever let up in my preparation for matches, I can be beaten,” Williams said. “I always needs to improve, I want to get better each day in practice. I’ve got to get better to keep my edge and reach my goals.”

Another of Williams goals is to capture a third-straight individual weight class title at the Class 1A-4A state tournament next month.

At the 2006 state tourney, Williams took the 140-pound title, and then last season he took the 145-pound title.

This season, he’s moved up in weight once again, this time to the 152-pound class.

Williams has kept his edge for more than a year, as his last loss came in the finals of the Fultondale Invitational in Dec. 2006. Since then, he’s taken to the mat 81 times and each time the referee has raised Williams hand in triumph.

The 81-match winning streak has improved Williams overall career mark to 174-9.

“After that loss in the Fultondale Invitational, I had to step back and take a look at myself and put things in perspective,” Williams said. “I had to realize I’m not the best wrestler there is out there and I have to wrestle like I’m facing the best wrestler there is each time I go out or I know a loss could happen to me again.”

Last week, Williams and his Wildcat teammates won the school’s first ever Jefferson County title. According to Williams,, the victory for 2A Fultondale was even tougher than winning a 1A-4A state title.

“Winning county is really hard, because they’re so many 5A and 6A schools here,” he said. “This is tougher than a state tournament because we’re facing much bigger schools. This is awesome for us. It means a lot to me to win an individual title and team title in my senior year.”

In just over three weeks, Williams and his teammates will attempt to defend their 1A-4A, Section 2 title.

Then a week later, the Wildcats will try to improve on last year’s runner-up finish at the state tournament.

“The state tournament is going to be much harder than it was last year,” he said. “We’ll have some really good competitors there, but I think we have the team that can win it.”