Land Bell is a living legend at Tallassee High School. Bell put another dent in his dense wrestling resume as he stamped his 100th consecutive career win last week.
Bell is 57-0 on the year with double digits wins coming via pin.
Entering the season, Bell was ranked No. 1 at 150 pounds in Class 1A/4A, according to the Alabama Wrestling Coaches poll. And he has lived up to every expectation as he is already making historical feats.
Bell is the first Tallassee wrestler to win 100 in a row.
“Kids are usually not wrestling at the varsity level as a seventh grader, but Land wrestled for us in the seventh grade on varsity and finished that year with 40 wins,” Tallassee coach John Mask said. “I remember watching him in the ninth grade just go out there and take over the mat like he was unstoppable, and there has just been an increase in everything since then even his grades which he has managed to maintain a 3.9 GPA throughout this whole process.”
Bell is leading a prominent Tallassee team that has been gaining statewide recognition. Bell’s reign of 100 consecutive over the course of the past three years is the true testament to that. The last match that Bell was defeated was around Christmastime of his sophomore year.
“It is just so rare; this is over the course of a three-year period,” Mask said. “So we're speaking of 100 wins without a loss, which is even the rarest of feats I've ever known here, I’ve never experienced anything like it,” Mask said.
Mask has coached high school wrestling for 25 years and said even he is taken aback by Bell’s talents.
“The Lord blessed him, because all the tools are in the tool bag that you would need to be a phenomenal wrestler,” Mask said. “We've been blessed here over the years to have many great wrestlers, but Land has exemplified incredible qualities all throughout his career.”
Bell was raised within the Tallassee wrestling program under Mask. His older brother, Mason Bell, wrestled for Mask, and both Bell and Mask have recollection of a young Land maintaining the manager duties as a youngster.
“Land would travel around with us as a manager when his brother was wrestling at an early age, so I've been blessed to know him and the family for an extended period, and even as a manager, you would look up and see him doing things that normal kids don't do,” Mask said.
Bell knows just how lucky he is to have grown up in the Tallassee wrestling community.
“I've been around a whole bunch of pioneers, legends and stuff,” Bell said. “I've kind of just grown up under coach Mask and I couldn't be more thankful because he's a great guy, and he definitely wants the best for everybody.”
Bell attests much of his accomplishment to simply falling in love with the training regimen.
“I've really put in a lot of hours of training to get where I'm at today,” Bell said. “I couldn’t have done, honestly, any of this without coach Mask either and my teammates because they’ve been super supportive of me.”
Some of the most memorable matches in the 100-win streak include three state tournament runs — and he’s hoping not to stop any time soon.