On my wifes side of the family
Scott Varner, with team and coaches, displays the winning bracket from Lakeland.
Wakulla High School junior wrestler Scotty Varner carved a place for himself in the history of the War Eagle wrestling program by winning a state championship Saturday, Feb. 21 in Lakeland.
In addition to Varner’s championship title, Tre McCullough missed a state championship by one second as he finished second in his weight class. Mookie Forbes placed third and Garrett Barco placed fifth in their respective weight classes.
Coach John Wainwright said he does not know if Wakulla has ever placed four wrestlers in the top five of their weight classes in the state championships.
The state championship for Varner is the fifth in Wakulla High School history following Parrish Barwick, Deron Harvey, Desmond Kieser and Shad Washburn. Washburn’s championship was the most recent a decade ago.
“We’re finally getting to the point where we need to be,” said Coach Wainwright. “We’re getting closer to our goal of winning a state championship.”
Wakulla finished fifth as a team behind Fort Myers Riverdale, Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, Miami Pace Monsignor and Avon Park.
Wainwright added that he does not know of any state champions from west of the Suwannee River since Washburn captured his title.
Varner was 4-0 at the state championships. He fell behind by one point late in his final match before tying the match with nine seconds left. Varner won the match within the first 30 seconds of overtime. He finished his junior season 53-3 at 135 pounds.
Tre McCullough finished second at 125 as his opponent scored the winning point with one second left in the match. He was 3-1.
Forbes was 4-1 and placed third at 103. Garrett Barco was 4-2 at 145 and placed fifth. Forbes and Barco are seniors.
Tyler Hill and Travis Hinsey were both 0-2 at 119 and 130 respectively.
Wakulla finished higher than rival Clay County and Suwannee County. Those schools had three state champions combined.
