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Sports

Crawford Leads Marshall at Liberty District Meet

Heavyweight earns lone individual title for Statesmen

While the overall picture wasn’t as pretty for the Statesmen as coach Jason Planakis would have hoped, heavyweight Matt Crawford pushed through a tough Fairfax opponent, Kevin Karsner, to earn the team’s lone individual title.

Marshall finished in fifth place out of the eight teams in the district. Crawford earned four points for his win and made sure the Statesmen finished ahead of nearby rival McLean (96-92). Langley earned the district crown for the 11th-straight year.

“At least we ended on a good note with my win,” Crawford said.

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At 6-2, 260, Crawford was matched up against a competitor who was built like a 260-pound fireplug. Karsner, closer to 5-10 with short legs, has a low center of gravity which makes him hard to move. After battling to a 1-1 tie, Crawford executed a takedown with 20 seconds left in the match to earn the win.

“I went up against him in football and he was hard to push,” Crawford said. “I kept forcing it and I knew it was going to happen eventually if I just kept working for it.”

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Crawford said he’s looking forward to regionals, where it’s likely he’ll meet Westfield’s Tyler DeLeon for the third time this season. Last year, DeLeon beat Crawford in his first-round match, a surprise loss that set him back in the consolation brackets. This year, Crawford has a 2-0 record against his rival.

Joining Crawford at the Fairfax meet later this week will be James Cusack, who lost in the finals at 112, John Townshend, who won his third-place match at 152, Garret Giles, who was pinned in his finals bout at 160, and Ryan Crone (171) and Zack Brooks (215) who each finished fourth in their divisions.

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