By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

HOOVER – Both Spain Park and Thompson competed in the AHSAA Officials Clinic Duals at Spain Park High School from June 12-13 with six other teams. Spain Park and Thompson both had three duals in the tournament, against Mountain Brook, Riverdale (Fla.) and each other.

In the first match for Spain Park, Jared Buxton, Jacob Parker and Jace Sproull all won their matches by fall. Buxton, who wrestled in the 182-pound weight class, defeated Jeremiah Brown; Parker, who wrestled in the 152-pound weight class, defeated Jordan Thompson; and Sproull, who wrestled in the 126-pound weight class, defeated Tory Birdsong. Brett Cruce, who wrestled in the 132-pound weight class defeated Landon Trammel via a 6-2 decision as well. Those were the only four matches Spain Park was able to win in the first match, and fell to Mountain Brook by a final of 58-21.

In Spain Park’s second match of the day, Riverdale defeated Spain Park as well via a 56-12 decision. Sproull, Cruce and Buxton were the only wrestlers able to get a victory for the Jaguars in the second match. Sproull beat Chance Ganger via fall, and was the only one of the three to do so, while Cruce and Buxton both won via decisions. Cruce beat Scott Smith while Buxton defeated Caleb Lauderdale. All three athletes competed in the same weight classes in the second match as they did in the first.

In Thompson’s match against Riverdale, the Warriors lost by a score of 43-32. The Warriors were able to win six matches but lost nine to the team from Fort Myers, Fla. Sam Latona, Seth Gatlin, Cody Mealer, Zac Scholl. Riley Pike and Garrett Allen were the six Thompson wrestlers able to win their respective individual matches. Latona, wrestling in the 106-pound weight class, defeated Lleyton Taylor by fall, as did Gatlin in the 113-pound weight class over Matthew Malavsky, Scholl over Smith in the 132-pound division and Pike over Daniel Williamson in the 145-pound division. Mealer, wrestling in the 120-pound weight class, defeated James Monos via a 7-0 decision while Allen beat Tobias Garrison in the 170-pound weight class by technical fall.

Thompson also fell to Spain Park in the dual between the two schools by a final of 34-18, although Spain Park won five weight classes by forfeit. The Warriors also fell to Mountain Brook via a 44-21 decision, but again had one match given up by forfeit.