BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School earned the team runner-up trophy for the third time in four years and qualified eight individuals for region-level competition at the District 4-1A wrestling meet, which was held Feb. 15 in Palatka.
The Tigers had a team score of 185, which left them trailing only Baker County, which had a score of 234.5. Union was 55 points ahead of third-place Palatka.
Four Union wrestlers finished the day as champions: Rodney Barnett, Alexander Cortese, Jonathan Howard and Dylan Lane.
Howard won the 120-pound class by going 2-0, pinning Baker County’s Nathan Roll in 1:28 and pinning Keystone Heights’ Jared Goetzman in 3:34.
Barnett, a district runner-up last year, went 3-0 in taking first in the 144 class. He began his day by pinning Bishop Snyder’s Daniel Ortiz in 1:38 and then made quick work of Baldwin’s Travis Krause, pinning him in 50 seconds. Barnett faced Providence’s Camden Garcia in the championship match, pinning him in 1:40.
Cortese, who was also a district runner-up last year, pinned two opponents to win the 190 class. He defeated Florida Deaf and Blind’s Anthony Rush in 1:06 and Palatka’s Dalvin Dallas in 1:14.
Lane improved upon his third-place finish at last year’s district meet in winning this year’s 285 class. He pinned Baker County’s Jordan Allaart in 3:14 and then pinned Palatka’s Ben Clark in 3:49.
The top four in each class qualified for the Region 1 meet, which will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24, at Wewahitchka High School. Union’s district champs will be joined there by teammates Jameson Lang, Elijah Roberts and Gavin Sparkman, who were all runners-up in their classes, as well as Maddox Wheeler, who wrestled his way to a third-place finish.
Sparkman recorded two straight pins to reach the championship match in the 138 class, defeating Bishop Snyder’s P.J. Canales in 1:57 and Providence’s Aiden Gravey in 1:18. He was then pinned in 1:32 by Baker County’s Jonathan Walker.
Roberts reached the championship match in the 150 class by pinning Florida Deaf and Blind’s Moses Jeudy in 24 seconds and then advancing off a second-round bye. He then faced Bishop Snyder’s Amari Akel, who pinned him in 47 seconds.
The 165 class had only four participants, so all Lang needed to do to reach the championship match was get one win. He did that by pinning Palatka’s Dreyton Reid in 4:13. He was then pinned in four minutes by Baker County’s Benny Lewis.
Wheeler was pinned in 1:30 by Baker County’s Joseph Stronko in the opening round in the 215 class. He rebounded by pinning Florida Deaf and Blind’s Lesean Nagle in just 27 seconds. Wheeler then earned a win in the third-place match by disqualification over Palatka’s Curtis Clark.
Union’s three other competitors all placed fifth in their respective classes.
Aidan Hancock lost his first two matches in the 106 class before earning a forfeit win over Providence’s Easton Tapley.
Ashton Newsom lost two matches in the 157 class, but finished fifth as one of just five wrestlers in the class.
Brian Sparkman was 0-2 in the 175 class before being awarded a forfeit win over Florida Deaf and Blind’s Addison Allen.
