GREEN COVE SPRINGS - With a team conference and an individual All-Conference first team selection, Clay High wrestling grad Cale Hoskinson returned home to share some of his wrestling IQ with young Green Cove Springs wrestlers with a week long camp at Clay High School.
"I graduated from McKendree University in Illinois, but I have one more year of eligibility to wrestle," said Hoskinson, a Clay High state champion and a McKendree Bearcat wrestler with a bevy of accolades including a National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-American, a near-miss fifth place region finish that kept him from the NCAA Div. II national championships, a Great Lakes Valley Conference team title as well as an individual title and a team region runnerup finish by just 11.5 points. "We had seven guys go to nationals and one region champion and I want to go back and get that one spot I missed this year to go go nationals."
Hoskinson noted that his conference title was a strong team effort, but, at regions, Hoskinson lost a 7-4 first round match and was slotted into consolations where he won two matches; 13-3 and 16-3, but lost in the consolation semifinal 7-4 to finish fifth.
"I won the conference title (8-1 over Dalton Schams of Upper Iowa) and we took the team title (over Upper Iowa 23-17) to move on to regions," said Hoskinson, who finished with a 14-9 season record. "I was ranked 12th in the nation prior to regions, but lost to a kid I beat at conference (Nathan Conley of Indianapolis; Hoskinson won 4-1) and did not go to nationals."
Conley would win the third place match.
Hoskinson, Class 1A champion at 160 in 2021 finished at Clay with a 42-2 season record, originally wrestled at Notre Dame College in Ohio out of Clay High School (178-39 record, state title, twice state medalist, four times state qualifier with 4.3 GPA) where he, ironically, finished fifth in two regionals, then transferred to McKendree.
Hoskinson's plans included working on his master's degree and wrestling next fall, then return to be a coach on the wrestling team. Hoskinson graduated with a bachelor's in exercise science with a plan to get a master of athletic training and return to Jacksonville area.
"I'll go back, wrestle my final year, get my master's degree and hope they let me come back as a graduate assistant," said Hoskinson. "I would like to eventually become a physical therapist in a few years."
For Hoskinson, the return to Clay High was a matter of giving back to the program that improved his wrestling prowess to the eventual state title.
"We got maybe 20-30 local kids with this camp; my second camp here," said Hoskinson, who came to Clay High from Yulee High in Nassau County. "There was a big high school tournament in Kissimmee so we didn't get a bunch of high school guys. I just wanted to give back a little to the Clay program."
Hoskinson plans a second camp with Middleburg High School coach Coll Robertson, then return to McKendree in August.
"I want to get up on that podium before I'm done at McKendree," said Hoskinson. "Truly, being able to see coach Jim Reape when I came back and appreciating that they let me in and blessed me when I got here."