GREEN COVE SPRINGS — Winning 22 district titles in succession isn’t the easiest thing to do, even when predictions suggesting it suggest otherwise.
Short three regular-season starters at the onset of Wednesday’s 1A-District 4 IBT at home, Clay, however, had most of the work done on that 22nd title by the end of the first session of wrestling, holding a 78-point lead at that point.
By afternoon’s end, the gap had grown, as the Blue Devils nearly doubled up the point total of runnerup Union Cty, 255-137, sending their entire 14-wrestler group to next week’s Region 1 tournament at Bolles.
Clay finished the day with eight champions, five runners-up and one 3rd.
Union Cty automatically qualified 12 of its 13 wrestlers for regions, with four runners-up, five 3rds and three 4ths.
Ridgeview outpointed Bolles, 106-89, for third place in the team standings. The Clay County Panthers qualified all nine of their wrestlers into next week, with two champions, one runnerup, one 3rd and five 4ths.
As for Bolles, it advanced six wrestlers to compete in its home gym, with two champions, one runnerup, two 3rds and one 4th.
University Christian tied with Wolfson for fifth in the team race, as both teams scored 58.5 points, followed by Bishop Snyder (26) and Baldwin (four).
The Christians moved all three of their wrestlers on, with two champions and one runnerup, while the Wolfpack qualified five out, with two runners-up and three 3rds. Bishop Snyder advanced a pair of 3rd-place wrestlers, while Baldwin had one 4th.
Brackets from Wednesday’s tournament can be found HERE.
THE QUALIFIERS
Clay: Savanna Huckelberry (106-3rd); Maverick Rainwater (113-1st); Dalton Huckelberry (120-2nd); Thomas Viens (126-1st); Chandler Thomas (132-2nd); Luke Boree (138-1st); Josh Kumpf (145-1st); Dominic Martin (152-1st); Cale Hoskinson (160-1st); Ethan Larsen (170-1st); Jadon Bell (182-2nd); Kedtric Wilbon (195-1st); John Johnson (220-2nd); Ethan Daniels (285-2nd).
Union Cty: Christian Simmons (106-2nd); Kale Waters (113-3rd); Rodney Barnett (126-3rd); Ian Halfacre (132-4th); Cade Vaughn (138-2nd); Ethan Shea (145-2nd); Alexander Cortese (152-3rd); Caleb Crawford (160-2nd); Danny Thornton (170-3rd); Carson Rogers (182-4th); Brett Abraham (195-3rd); Mikah Wilson (285-4th).
Ridgeview: Kael Teevan (113-4th); Kaiden Tibbetts (120-4th); Coleman Matheny (126-4th); Matthew Rodriquez (132-1st); James Laycock (152-4th); Ryan Murphy (160-4th); Logan Keester (170-2nd); Kennan Wilder (220-3rd); Derrick Mosley (285-1st).
Bolles: Jacob Witt (113-2nd); Denny Vohs (132-3rd); Jack Landis (138-4th); Skylar Malone (160-3rd); Ethan Asbury (182-1st); Jack Pyburn (220-1st).
University Christian: Jayce Paridon (106-1st); Egan Gustilo (120-1st); Mathew Flores (152-2nd).
Wolfson: Andrew Harbin (126-2nd); Grant Barineau (138-3rd); David Hickman (145-3rd); Grant Authelet (182-3rd); Haydon Long (195-2nd).
Bishop Snyder: Christian Villanueva (120-3rd); Angel Lecointe (285-3rd).
Baldwin: James Harrelson (220-4th).
THE DISTRICT CHAMPS
106: Eighth-grader Paridon (47-4) won his second district title in a three-person bracket, with a bye into the finals, where he pinned runnerup Simmons in :43.
113: Rainwater (28-5), a junior, won his first title after placing third a year ago. He had two falls en route to the bracket win, with a semifinal pin over fourth-place Teevan (3:10) in the semis and a finals pin over Witt (3:44).
120: Sophomore Gustilo (35-7) won his second district title with three wins on Wednesday, with a quarterfinal pin over Baldwin’s Caleb Hellard (1:35), a semifinal decision over third-place Villanueva (6-2) and an 8-0 major in the final over runnerup Huckelberry.
126: Viens (15-9), a senior, won his first district title with a pair of pins, with a semifinal fall over third-place Barnett (1:28) and a championship pin over runnerup Harbin (3:15).
132: Senior Rodriquez (49-0) won his fifth district championship, fourth with the Panthers, with three falls in 2:16 of mat time. Rodriquez had successive pins over fourth-place Halfacre (:20, quarters), third-place Vohs (1:07, semis) and runnerup Thomas (:49, championship).
138: Boree (23-7), a junior, won his second district title with two bonus-point wins, falling fourth-place Landis (1:13) in the semis and taking a 14-1 major in the finals over runnerup Vaughn.
145: Junior Kumpf (16-4) reached his third district final (champion in 2019, runnerup last year) with a bye, then falled runnerup Shea in 2:42 for his second title.
152: Martin (30-7), a sophomore, won his first district title after a runnerup medal in 2020, with a 50-second pin over third-place Cortese in the semis and a 7-1 win over runnerup Flores in the title round.
160: Senior Hoskinson (34-2) won his fourth district championship after signing with Division II’s Notre Dame College in Ohio earlier in the day. Hoskinson took two first-period pins over fourth-place Murphy (:54) in the semis and over runnerup Crawford (1:03) in the final.
170: Larsen (25-10), a junior, advanced to the finals with a bye, then won by fall in the championship match over runnerup Keester (3:09).
182: Senior Asbury (22-7) won his first district title after runnerup efforts in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Asbury had two falls in winning on Wednesday, both in 1:51, with a semifinal pin over fourth-place Rogers and a championship fall over runnerup Bell.
195: Wilbon (12-6), a sophomore, won his first district championship with a bye into the finals, where he pinned runnerup Long in 3:58.
220: Junior Pyburn (17-1), after two runnerup efforts in 2019 and 2020, won his first district title with 1:09 of mat time, taking pins over fourth-place Harrelson (:15) in the semis and over runnerup Johnson (:54) in the finals.
285: Junior Mosley (45-0) won his second district title and first for Ridgeview, with his third finals appearance (2019 runnerup, 2020 champ). He had three pins Wednesday, with falls over fourth-place Wilson (:37) in the quarters, third-place Lecointe (2:24) in the semis and runnerup Daniels (2:14) for the title.
North Florida Matmen 