jeff.waters@gaflnews.com



Suwannee High’s Jordan Cone took the Class 1A, 130-pound state wrestling championship at the Lakeland Center Feb. 16. This was the final match of Cone’s high school career.

Cone gave the Bulldogs their 19th state title in school history by beating Glades Central’s Dephito Succes 12-2.

“I’m pretty happy about it,” Cone said in a telephone interview. “I worked really hard, and it finally paid off.” Cone has four district and three regional titles under his belt as well. “We had a really good team this year,” Cone added.

Laxton called it “a pleasure” to coach Cone. “He made a lot of personal sacrifices to make state champion, and I am proud of him,” he said.

Other notables were Travis Laxton, with a final record of 39-4, (112 lbs.), who placed third. Placing fifth was Merritt Burrus, 31-3, (103 lbs.). John Snyder, 31-9,(285 lbs.) took sixth. Luke Grantham (135 lbs.) and Caleb Sanders (119 lbs.) both went 2-2 at state.

Octavious Granville was disqualified after not weighing in on Friday. Laxton said he is not sure yet why he was disqualified, but he left the weigh in area to go shave and learned when he got back that he had been disqualified, Laxton said.

Correction

The following wrestlers were district champions: Jordan Cone (130 lbs.), Luke Grantham (135 lbs.), Octavious Granville (189 lbs.) and Jon Snyder (285 lbs.). Runners up were Michael Burrus (125 lb.), Tony Futch (145 lbs.) and Caleb Sanders (119 lbs.). In its Feb. 13 edition, the Democrat reported otherwise. We regret the error.