The following is a look at the high school varsity teams and individuals that won championships at the district, regional or state levels, earned medals in state competition or that qualified to participate in regional and state competitions in 2021. Any omissions are unintentional.
BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Christian Simmons was a state champion for the second straight year, highlighting the 2023 year in Union County High School athletics.
Simmons won both the traditional (bench press and clean and jerk) and Olympic (snatch and clean and jerk) championships in the 129 class at the Class 1A boys weightlifting finals. He had a 505 total in the traditional event, which put him in first place by 45 pounds, while his 435 total in the Olympic event put him in first by 35 pounds.
Union had two others compete at state. Thomas Williams earned a medal by placing sixth with a 575 total in the 199 class in the traditional event, while Maddox Wheeler was 16th in the 219 class in the traditional event.
The weightlifting postseason began with the District 7 meet. Simmons won the championships in both the traditional and Olympic events to automatically qualify for the Region 2 finals.
Williams and Rodney Barnett (154 class) both placed third, while the following placed fourth: Wheeler, Brycen Boney (169), Clifton Ivey (183) and Connor Bresee (238).
All the third- and fourth-place finishers earned at-large regional berths.
Erich Seager (219) and Jacob Jenkins (unlimited) earned fifth-place finishes, with Seager qualifying for regionals.
Also qualifying for regionals were Wyatt Elixson, who was sixth in the 139 class, and Jimmy Cox, who was seventh in the 199 class.
At the Region 2 meet, Simmons again won both the traditional and Olympic events. Williams and Wheeler placed fifth and ninth, respectively, in earning their bids to state.
State qualifiers in girls weightlifting, wrestling, track and field and swimming
Leah Clark was a District 6 champion and a Region 2 runner-up in qualifying for the Class 1A girls weightlifting state finals.
Clark, who competed in the 139 class in the traditional event, had a total of 270 at the district level and a total of 275 at the regional level.
Five additional lifters, including Hailey Rivera and Taleya Smith, qualified for the Region 2 finals. Rivera (119 class) and Smith (154) were both runners-up at the district meet.
Also qualifying for regionals were Gracelyn Manning, who was fifth in the 199 class, Hayley Burke, who was sixth in the 154 class, and Jaira Highland, who was sixth in the 199 class.
Holly Halfacre (119) and Stefani Nash (101) placed third and fifth, respectively, though they didn’t qualify for the region meet.
At the Region 2 finals, Smith placed fifth.
Wrestling team member Danny Thornton was a state qualifier after winning a district championship and placing third at the regional level.
Thornton, who competed in the 195 class, went 1-2 at the Class 1A state finals.
His performance was just one highlight for the wrestling program, which was the runner-up to Baker County at the District 4 meet. It was the second time in three years that Union earned the runner-up trophy.
Thornton was one of three wrestlers to win their weight classes, which made them the first-ever district champions in the Tigers’ four years of competing in wrestling. Ethan Hancock went 2-0 in winning the 120 class, while Ian Halfacre went 2-0 in winning the 132 class.
Thornton went 3-0.
Rodney Barnett and Alex Cortese were runners-up. Barnett went 1-1 in the 145 class, while Cortese went 2-1 in the 182 class.
Third-place finishers were Kale Waters (3-1 in the 113 class), Ethan Shea (3-1 in the 138 class), Elijah Roberts (3-1 in the 152 class), Colin Hadlock (3-1 in the 170 class) and Dylan Lane (3-1 in the 220 class).
Braden Adams went 2-2 in placing fourth in the 126 class.
The top four finishers in each class qualified for the Region 1 finals.
Another state qualifier for Union occurred in track and field, with Auntrell Ross earning a berth in the long jump.
Ross received an at-large bid after a sixth-place distance of 21-9 at the Region 1 finals. He went on to finish 13th at the Class 2A state meet with a distance of 20-11.75.
His run to state began at the District 3 meet, where he placed third. Ross also qualified for regionals with a fourth-place finish in the 200m.
Leah Clark won two district championships, running the 100m in 12.49 seconds and the 200m in 25.87.
Amia Bethea qualified for regionals with a third-place finish in the 100m.
Also advancing to regionals were the girls 4x100m relay team of Bethea, Clark, Holly Halfacre and Ny’asia Jones, which placed third at the district meet, and the boys 4x100m team of Ross, Dayquan Diston, Rayvon Durant and Thomas Williams, which was fourth at districts.
Eva Whitehead swam her way to two district championships — the first ever for UCHS in swimming — and would eventually qualify for the state finals for the second year in a row.
At the District 1-1A meet, Whitehead won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:02.40 and the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:16.95.
Whitehead earned a pair of top-10 finishes at the Region 1 meet, placing fifth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.20 and eighth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.32.
At state, Whitehead had a time of 58.81 in the 100 backstroke to place 10th. She was 22nd in the 200 IM with a time of 2:12.
3 teams play for regional titles
The baseball team was the District 6-1A runner-up and advanced to the Region 3 championship game before losing 14-3 to Lafayette.
Union began the district tournament with a 12-2 win over Fort White in the semifinals. Ayden Elixson and Erick Lasseter each drove in two runs as part of a seven-run fifth inning.
Elixson went 3 for 5 with four RBI. Lasster and Tre’Von Lee each hit a two-run double to finish with two RBI each.
Blake Agner, Tucker Hardee and Ethan Moody each drove in one run.
Starting pitcher Devin Diggs held the Indians to two runs and two hits through four innings, striking out six. Lasseter gave up one hit with two strikeouts in the final two innings.
Union took a 6-0 lead in the District 6 championship game, but wound up losing 9-8 to Lafayette.
A six-run first inning included two RBI by Agner and one each by Elixson, Hardee and Preston Bonsall.
The Tigers were held to three hits after the first inning.
Bonsall and Elixson went 2 for 3 and 2 for 4, respectively, and had all but three of Union’s hits.
Lafayette and Union were the top-two ranked teams in Class 1A prior to the game and entered the Region 3 playoffs as the top two seeds. The Tigers began the playoffs with a 6-5 win semifinal win over Madison County.
Madison scored three runs in the top of the seventh and had the tying run on third with two outs. Elixson, in a relief appearance, struck out the only batter he faced to end the game.
Union, leading 3-0, had no one on with two outs in the fifth. Still, the Tigers scored three runs, with Lee hitting an RBI single and two runners scoring on an error.
Lee went 2 for 3 with three RBI, while Lasseter had one RBI.
Moody started on the mound, giving up nine hits and no walks in 6.2 innings.
The Tigers’ season ended in the Region 3 championship game, with host Lafayette scoring eight runs in the first two innings as Union lost 14-3.
Nine of the Hornets’ runs were off homers, including a walk-off grand slam in the fifth.
Lee hit a two-run double, while Miller had an RBI single.
The Tigers, who finished the season with an 18-9 record, were held to four hits.
Like the baseball team, Union’s volleyball team was a district runner-up and advanced to the regional finals before its season ended with a 12-13 record.
Union began play in the District 6-1A tournament with a 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-23) win over Bell in the semifinals. Jailyn Simmons had 10 kills and six blocks, while Rylie Parrish and Indi Knox had eight and six kills, respectively.
Jurney Crim led the team in digs with 21. The Tigers also got 19 from Jordan Hendricks, 12 from Layla Barber, eight from Bella Johns, seven from Kamryn Southerland and six from Abby Williams.
Southerland and Hendricks had 14 and 13 assists, respectively.
The Tigers advanced to the District 6 championship match, losing 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-18) to Branford. Simmons had eight kills and four blocks, while Southerland and Hendricks had nine and six assists, respectively.
Crim had 15 digs, while Union also got 12 each from Barber and Southerland and 10 each from Hendricks and Johns.
Union entered the Region 3 playoffs as the number-two seed and defeated third seed Lafayette 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 25-23). Barber led the team in kills with 18, while Simmons and Knox had 13 and eight, respectively. Simmons also had eight blocks and eight digs, while Barber and Knox had 12 and eight digs, respectively.
Crim led the team in digs with 30, with the Tigers also getting 15 from Hendricks, 13 from Johns and 12 from Southerland.
Parrish had five blocks, while Southerland and Hendricks had 19 and 16 assists, respectively.
The Tigers got a rematch with Branford in the Region 3 championship match, with the top seed Buccaneers winning 3-1 (25-11, 25-7, 21-25, 25-22).
Union got 15 kills and eight blocks from Simmons and 12 kills and 15 digs from Barber. Knox and Parrish had nine and six kills, respectively, with Knox also recording 10 digs and Parrish adding five blocks.
Crim led the team in digs with 28. Hendricks and Johns added 18 and 10, respectively, while Southerland had nine.
Southerland and Hendricks had 17 and 13 assists, respectively.
In football, the Tigers entered the Region 3-1R playoffs as the third seed with a 6-3 record. They’d win two games before losing to top seed Madison County in the Region 3 championship game.
Union opened the postseason with a 58-8 quarterfinal win over Hilliard. Gavin Jenkins returned two interceptions for touchdowns, while Trenton Klein threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another.
Klein completed 9 of 12 passes for 223 yards. He had touchdown passes of 45 yards to Blake McCoy, 30 yards to Bobo Woodall and 12 yards to Ibn Williams.
The quarterback also rushed 46 yards on three carries.
Woodall finished with three receptions for 87 yards, while McCoy caught three passes for 80 yards. Williams had two catches for 45 yards.
Drew Simmons had touchdown runs of 11 and 57 yards and finished with 132 yards on eight carries.
Jonathan Edwards, who was 7 of 8 on extra-point kicks, added a 33-yard field goal.
On defense, Klein and Thomas Williams led the team in tackles with five each, while Johnte Nichols had an interception.
Union traveled to play second seed Fort White in the semifinals, with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Klein to Ibn Williams proving to be the difference in a 17-10 win.
Union held Fort White to just a field goal in the second half. Ashton Newsome made a tackle for no gain on a fourth-and-1 play the Indians went for with 1:30 remaining, while the defense didn’t allow Fort White to complete a pass in the final 18 seconds after the Indians had blocked a punt.
Edwards kicked a 35-yard field goal in the first half. A double-play late in the second quarter resulted in a 9-yard touchdown from Jenkins to Bryan Tyson, putting Union up 10-7 at halftime.
Klein completed 10 of 16 passes for 172 yards, while rushing for 53 yards on 12 carries.
Woodall caught four passes for 34 yards and rushed for 27 yards on just three carries.
Thomas Williams rushed for 59 yards on 13 carries, while Jenkins caught two passes for 65 yards.
Klein led the Union defense with nine tackles, while Jenkins and Brycen Boney each had eight. Tyson and Erich Seager each had seven tackles, while Thomas Williams made six.
Union held a fourth-quarter lead against Madison County in the Region 3 title game, but lost 17-14 to finish the season with an 8-4 record.
Woodall scored on a 38-yard pass play in the first half, while a touchdown run by Thomas Williams put the Tigers ahead 14-10 with 1:32 to play in the third quarter.
The Cowboys took advantage of a fumbled snap on a Union punt attempt, driving down field for a touchdown with 6:25 remaining.
Union got two interceptions each by McCoy and Dayquan Diston. Klein led the team in tackles with 10, while Seager and Tyson had seven and six, respectively.
Klein completed 13 of 20 passes for 129 yards. Diston caught one pass for 45 yards, while Woodall caught three for 41 yards.
