Eight Shelby County wrestlers headed to championship finals

Published 7:22 pm Friday, February 12, 2010

Eight Shelby County wrestlers, including four grapplers from Oak Mountain High School, will wrestle for a Class 6A championship Feb. 13 at the Alabama High School Athletic Association state tournament at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville.

Oak Mountain’s Tanner Moon, Jesse Smith, Jared Woodall and Justin Woodall will wrestle for a state championship. Nick Hall and Josh Gillaspie of Thompson and Spain Park’s Geoffrey and Tommy Bostany are also headed to the championship finals.

The Eagles, who currently sit in second place in the Class 6A team standings with 144.5 points, will be led by senior 119-pounder Tanner Moon, who avenged a loss earlier this season with his 2-1 decision over Anthony Bruno of Bob Jones in the championship semifinals. Moon, who has lost only two matches in his final high school wrestling season, improved to 58-2 in individual matches this season with the victory.

Jesse Smith, Jared Woodall and Justin Woodall also advanced to the championship finals for Oak Mountain. Smith (64-4) earned a 4-2 decision over Hewitt-Trussville’s Luke Moore in the 103-pound championship semifinals.

Jared Woodall (46-1) earned a 6-3 decision over Cody Krauel of Benjamin Russell in the 152-pound championship semifinals. Justin Woodall (49-8) earned an 8-7 decision over Wetumpka’s Josh McTier in the 160-pound championship semifinals.

Reid Bishop, Josh Greer and Whit Whitfield of Oak Mountain will wrestle for a third-place finish in the consolation finals.

Oak Mountain trails first-place Hoover by 10 points and is three points ahead of third-place Vestavia Hills in the Class 6A team standings.

Thompson freshman Nick Hall will wrestle in the 140-pound championship finals, while sophomore teammate Josh Gillaspie will wrestle in the 152-pound championship finals.

Hall (55-6) earned an 8-3 decision over Gardendale’s Daniel Swann in the 140-pound championship semifinals. Gillaspie (50-11) pinned Daniel Kines of Vestavia Hills in 3:19 in the 152-pound championship semifinals.

Thompson’s John Austin Jones will wrestle for third place in the 145-pound consolation finals. The Warriors moved up to fourth place in the Class 6A team standings on the second day of competition. Thompson has 110 points with fifth-place Prattville right behind the Warriors with 106.5 points.

Logan Huey of Pelham will wrestle for a third-place finish in the 125-pound consolation finals.

Spain Park senior Geoffrey Bostany (52-3) advanced to the 135-pound championship finals with a 10-4 decision over Kendrick Hammond of Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery in the semifinals. His brother, Tommy, improved to 63-2 in individual matches this season with a 14-8 decision over Smiths Station’s Anthony Green in the 112-pound championship semifinals.

Chelsea High School will have a wrestler trying to nail down a third-place finish in the Class 5A state tournament. Senior Curtis Crooks (19-3) earned an 8-5 decision over Scottsboro’s Nick Boyett in the 135-pound consolation semifinals and will wrestle in the consolation finals Feb. 13.

Chelsea’s Justin Medler, D.J. Knight and Thomas Blottin each dropped two matches in the Class 5A state tournament Feb. 12.

Jeffrey Hughes, Gerald Nichols, Josh Reid and Jacob Oliver of Shelby County each dropped two matches in the Class 5A state tournament Feb. 12.

Complete results from the AHSAA state tournament can be found online at Trackwrestling.com.