Sports

Family scores Twin Wins in prep wrestling

Twins Aidan Gore (left) and Addison Gore won individual state championships last month in Greensboro.

By Bill Moss, Published: March 12, 2026

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another installment of the occasional Lightning feature Kids from Here. Call this one Kids of Kid from Here.

A year ago, both Aidan and Addison Gore competed for state championship medals in high school wrestling. Although Addy won her match, Aidan just missed.

“And so we kind of left last year’s state tournament super proud of both of them, but he didn’t achieve his goal,” said their mom, Diana Henderson Gore.

If at first you don’t succeed … back to the mat!

One year later, on Saturday, Feb. 21, both Addy and Aidan, who are twins, won individual championships in the class 7A state tournament in Greensboro.  

The twin wrestlers — they’re 17-year-old juniors at Garner High School — get their work ethic from their parents.

Diana Henderson won three state championships in cross country and distant running at North Henderson High School. After graduating in 1999, she ran cross country at N.C. State University, where she met Jason Gore, a varsity wrestler for the Wolfpack.

“Aidan started when he was younger,” Diana said. “We needed an outlet for his energy, so wrestling became the outlet for his energy in wintertime.”

At first, Addy wasn’t interested in the sport.

“Basically, she was being dragged to all these tournaments and just sitting all weekend for hours,” her mom said. “But around Covid time, she started showing some interest. And once she jumped in, she loved it. She started in middle school, and at that point she was wrestling a lot of boys, to be honest, because girls wrestling was really just getting started.”

The sport demands weight training, conditioning and discipline.

“The mental side of it is very tough,” Diana said. “The reality is you have to make weight every tournament. They have to be very aware of making sure that they’re feeding their bodies the right things, like nutritionally, so they have the right amount of energy, but they’re not gonna mess up their ability to make weight at a tournament.”

Aidan also plays wide receiver for the Garner Trojans football team, and the twins both run track in the spring. They’re also good students at Garner High, a magnet school with an International Baccalaureate program. Younger brother Connor is following in their mat prints, winning a middle school championship match.

All the twins’ hard work and discipline paid off at the state tournament in Greensboro.

Addie’s medal came first, when “she pinned her girl in the first period,” Diana said. “Aidan’s went all the way to the very end of the third and he escaped with like a second left. His escape point made him win 1-0.  It was a nail-biter.”

The twins’ grandparents, Don and Wendy Henderson, both retired teachers from Edneyville, watched it all from the stands. Diana said they deserve some kind of endurance trophy themselves.

“If you’re a spectator, it’s hours and hours — especially if you’re there for boys and girls,” she said. “They were such troupers to be there and cheer them on. Dad watches from afar, up in the stands, then Mom gets right down in the middle of all of it, screaming and cheering.”

The Hendersons, who have been active for decades as Cub Scout and Boy Scout leaders, enjoy following the twins and their younger brother.

“We’re really proud of our grandchildren,” Don said. “They’ve done well.”