Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School’s Danny Thornton qualified for the Class 1A state finals after placing third at the Region 1 wrestling finals, which were held Feb. 24-25 in Wewahitchka.
The top four in each weight class earned the right to advance to state, which will be held Thursday through Saturday, March 2-4, at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
Thornton, who wrestles in the 195-pound class, opened the Region 1 tournament with a 12-7 win over Raines’ Jhalil Richardson. He then pinned Suwannee’s Torynn Johns in 4:19 before suffering his first loss when he was pinned in 27 seconds in the semifinals by Yulee’s Alex Smith. Smith would go on to win the championship.
The loss pitted Thornton against Raines’ Richardson again in the consolation semifinals, with Thornton advancing off a pin in 5:25. That put Thornton in the third-place match, where he pinned Fernandina Beach’s Gauge Housely in 2:34.
Union’s Colin Hadlock came up one win short of wrestling for third place in the 170 class. He was pinned in 2:56 by Florida High’s Jordan Haigler in the first round, but then pinned three straight opponents: South Walton’s Nick Mitchell in 40 seconds, Episcopal’s Brennan Doherty in 3:03 and Wolfson’s Bryce Frye in 3:11. Hadlock then wrestled Bishop Kenny’s Luke Ghannam for the right to advance to the third-place match. Ghannam pinned Hadlock in 4:40 and would go on to place fourth.
Besides Thornton, the only Union wrestler to advance to the semifinal round was Alexander Cortese in the 182 class. Cortese recorded pins of 2:34 over Marianna’s Marquis Rhodes and 2:56 over Rutherford’s Bryson Schirmer. He then lost a 17-6 major decision to West Nassau’s Nolan McKelvy. McKelvy would go on to win the championship.
Cortese then wrestled Florida High’s Xander Hawkes for the right to advance to the third-place match, losing 12-11. Hawkes would eventually place fourth.
Three other wrestlers besides Cortese finished the tournament with 2-2 records: Ethan Hancock (120 class), Ethan Shea (138) and Rodney Barnett (145).
Hancock opened with a 10-2 major decision over Rocky Bayou Christian’s Jeremiah Herron before he was pinned in 1:27 by Paxon’s Kyle Brown. He bounced back with a 13-2 major decision over Stanton’s Leonardo Torres before then getting pinned in 1:10 by Bay’s David Drake.
Shea advanced to the quarterfinals off a forfeit before he was pinned in 4:36 by Yulee’s Austin Adamson. He pinned North Bay Haven’s Will Lundgren in 1:08 before forfeiting his next match.
Barnett pinned West Nassau’s Aiden Melson in 3:29 in his first match before he was pinned in 3:01 by Wakulla’s Jae T Thaxton. He then recorded a 7-4 win over Marianna’s Joshua Mercer before losing 11-8 to North Bay Haven’s Bear Siegal.
Kale Waters (113), Ian Halfacre (132), Elijah Roberts (152) and Dylan Lane (220) each went 1-2, while Braden Adams (126) went 0-2.
Halfacre and Roberts each won their first match, with Halfacre pinning Stanton’s Diego Torres in 3:28 and Roberts pinning Wewahitchka’s Jarrett Spencer in 1:46.
Waters and Lane each won their first-round consolation match, with Waters pinning South Walton’s Dylan Hardin in 1:03 and Lane pinning Liberty County’s Mason Geiger in 1:27.
