Heritage grapplers 10th at McCallie Invitational
In what Heritage head wrestling coach Mike Craft called “one of the toughest McCallie tournaments in years,” the Generals managed to finished 10th overall on Saturday with four individuals placing in the top 10.
“The competition has stepped up,” Craft said of the 34th annual event. “It’s always been tough, but I think it was definitely tougher this year...that’s a good thing.”
Heritage scored 112.5 total team points while Union Grove won the championship with 235 points. Woodland was runners-up with a score of 209.5 following by the remaining top 10 teams: McCallie, 208; Hillcrest, 145; Northwest Whitfield, 140; Soddy-Daisy, 135; Marist, 124; HewittTrussville, 116; and Cass, 113.
Individually for Heritage, Daniel Jernagin (now 28-1 overall) battled to earn a spot in the finals before losing his first match of the season to Davion Fairly of Union Grove, 8-3, to finish runners-up at 132-pounds.
Craft said Daniel had nothing to be ashamed in his match again Fairly in which he had to beat a defending state champion in the semifinals to advance to.
“Daniel has been wrestling great, and I think he has a good chance to be a state champion. The season is early, so we’ll just have to see...it’s a long way to go until the state tournament.”
Chuckie Thurman, who also entered the tournament undefeated, finished third overall at 126. He defeated Calvin Martin of William Blount by major decision to extend his record to 31-1 overall.
While it wasn’t the outcome Thurman had hoped for, Craft said it was still a huge milestone as well.
Ryan Craft (106) and Dylan Jernagin finished (138) were seventh.
Craft is now 27-5 overall while Dylan is Jernagin is 23-6.
Other top records for the Generals include 152-pounder Seth Ingle (24-8); 120: Blake Bryan, 18-8; 170: Spencer Daives , 45-7; 195: Cameron Stooksbury, 15-6; Jeffery Curtis, 11-6.
The Generals will travel to compete in the Smokey Mountain Duals on Dec. 22.