MIDDLEBURG - Middleburg High defending two-time state wrestling champion Cheyenne Cruce avenged her first loss in two years from last week at the Flagler Rotary Invite with a 6-2 finals win at 235 over Rotchiva Clermont of Freedom at the Let Freedom Ring Girls IBT on Saturday at Freedom High School.
Middleburg finished 10th in team competition with Flagler Palm Coast beating Freedom 212.0-192.5 for the team title. Middleburg finished with 53.5 points for 10th. Oakleaf was 27th with 2.0 points with Kailani Barrientos losing 6-1 in the 140 final to Lemon Bay's Ailee Briggs, the defending 135 state champion and an AAU Folkstyle and Freestyle state champion. Barrientos had three pins to the final.
Cruce had two opening BYEs before beating her first Freedom wrestler with a 5-1 win over Mekialla Mauvais in the quarterfinals. Cruce won via pin in the semifinals before facing off with Clermont in the final.
In the final, Cruce scored first with an escape to finish the second period up 2-0 with Cleermont tying with a reversal in round three.
Near the end of the final round, Cruce got Clermont on a near fall at 37 seconds to go for four points for the win with two late points for stalling by Clermont with five seconds to go.
Middleburg got sixth-place finishes from Lily Bradshaw at 100 and Sarah Walsh at 115.