By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

HOOVER – The Scott Rohrer Hoover Invitational took place on Jan. 9 at Hoover High School and had teams from Alabama, Florida and Louisiana competing. Both Spain Park and Oak Mountain represented Shelby County in the tournament, where the Eagles placed sixth and the Jaguars placed 15^th out of 19 teams competing.

The Eagles had six top-five finishers at the meet. Brett Cruce placed fourth in the 122-pound class, Blake Randle placed second in the 128-pound class, Carson Lester placed fourth in the 134-pound class, Coleman Reeves placed second in the 172-pound class, and Barrett Blakely and Jaried Buxton placed first in the 162-pound and 172-pound classes, respectively.

Buxton used two falls, one tech fall, an injury default, a sudden victory, a major decision and a decision en route to winning the 184-pound competition. He beat Brian Girard of Arnold via a 9-3 decision in the finals. Blakely garnered four wins via fall, two by way of decision and one via major decision on his way to the 162-pound title. He beat Jacob Fereday of Catholic High School (La.) in the finals by way of a 7-1 decision. Oak Mountain finished with 747 total points at the meet, which was just 30 points shy of third place.

Gavin Pudlick was the top finisher of the day for Spain Park. Pudlick, wrestling at 115 pounds, finished fourth in the weight class, losing to John McAlpin of Scottsboro in the consolation match by fall. Jack Rivers also placed sixth in the 108-pound class, beating Andrew Smith of Southside via decision in the fifth-place matchup. Spain Park finished with 348 total points.