Spain Park wrestling finishes 2nd at Dick Clem Invitational
Published 12:01 pm Tuesday, January 22, 2019
By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor
MADISON – The Spain Park Jaguars wrestling team made a big statement on Monday, Jan. 21, by finishing second in the Dick Clem Invitational hosted by Bob Jones High School.
The Jaguars posted a total of 223 points thanks to nine top six finishes, six top five finishes, four top three finishes and two champions.
With that consistent and strong effort, the Jags were able to finish just behind host school Bob Jones, who totaled 286 points, while finishing 19 points ahead of Huntsville High School, for one of their best team showings this season.
One of the two champions for Spain Park was in the 108-pound weight class thanks to John Robert Thompson. He picked up four pins and a technical fall to dominate his stretch of opponents on the way to putting 45 points on the board for the Jags.
Jack Rivers, in the 134-pound weight class, was the other first-place finisher for the Jags. As one of the team’s best overall wrestlers, he was able to steam roll through his matches as well as posing three consecutive pins to start before picking up a tech fall win and major-decision win to add 43 more team points for Spain Park.
Caelan March was the highest non-champion thanks to his finish of second in the 140-pound division. March used a pin and two decisions to get to the championship match before losing a major decision to Deacon Cowart in the first-place match.
In the 154-pound weight class, Carson Ray was able to add a third-place finish for Spain Park, which gave the team 29 additional team points. After dropping his first match of the day, he posted two pins in a row followed by two major decision wins in a row to claim third in the division for 29 more points.
Gage Hughes was able to add 19 points for the Jags with his fourth-place finish in the 172-pound weight class. He won via pin in his opening match, but dropped his second match due to technical fall. Hughes was able to follow that up with another pin before dropping the third-place matchup by way of decision.
Spain Park had four different wrestlers compete in fifth place matches, but Andrew Moses was the only one to pick up a win.
Moses dropped his first two matches after getting pinned, but bounced back to win two more matches with a pin and a decision, while also receiving a bye on his way to finishing fifth in the 184-pound weight class.
Fischer Harrison, Dillon Heatherly and Brandon Fortenberry all finished sixth in their respective weight classes to add a combined 39 more points for the Jags.