Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School participated in the Feb. 4-5 Clay Rotary Wrestling Invitational at Clay High School, with Caleb Crawford earning a sixth-place finish in the 160-pound class.
Crawford’s first match resulted in him pinning North Bay Haven’s Jack Hauck in 54 seconds. He was then pinned in 1:45 by Orange Park’s Trevion Sermons, which put him into the consolation bracket.
It was then three straight wins for Crawford. He pinned Bishop Snyder’s Joseph Miranda in 2:18 before defeating Episcopal’s John Fernandez 6-4. Crawford then pinned Bartram Trail’s Aydan Nguyen in 3:34.
The pin over Nguyen set up a rematch with Sermons, with the Orange Park wrestler winning again, this time by an 11-3 major decision. Sermons went on to win the third-place match.
Crawford dropped into the fifth-place match, which was won 4-2 by Fletcher’s Josh Daltro.
Rodney Barnett earned three wins for the Tigers in the 145 class. He was pinned in 2:51 by Bartram Trail’s Preston Pena before winning three straight. He pinned Riverside’s Cedric Livingston in 1:04 and Ponte Vedra’s Alexis Valencia in 42 seconds before winning by forfeit over Oakleaf’s Gavin Bamber. Barnett was then pinned in 2:57 by Terry Parker’s Jeff Brown.
Ethan Shea and Danny Thornton each had two wins in the 138 and 195 classes, respectively. Shea pinned Key West’s Shane Levallee in 3:15 before earning another win by forfeit. Thornton pinned Menendez’s Charles Hadley in 24 seconds and Bishop Snyder’s Matthew Carmona in 1:31.
Ian Halfacre (132 class), Colin Hadlock (170) and Alexander Cortese (182) each pinned an opponent. Halfacre defeated Space Coast’s Chris McDonald in three minutes, while Hadlock needed just 29 seconds to pin North Bay Haven’s Joseph Cox. Cortese pinned University Christian’s Mehki Ellis in 3:24.
