District champs join more than 50 county wrestlers at regional

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District champs join more than 50 county wrestlers at regional

Sports

Thursday, 11 February 2010 01:05

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
The district champion Osceola Kowboys lead the way to the wrestling regional tournaments Friday and Saturday, where 55 local wrestlers will compete.
A school-record 12 OHS wrestlers advanced to the 3A Region 2 tournament at Brandon.
The Kowboys (226) easily won the 3A District 5 championship over Lakeland (130.5), George Jenkins (128), Bayside (98) and Gateway (82). Ten Kowboys, another school record, won district championships, including unbeaten Gabriel Bird (47-0) at 145 pounds.
Joining Bird on the winner’s platform were Tim Locksmith (119, 45-6), Jeremy Strickland (125, 32-6), Alex Rivera (130, 29-12), Joe Locksmith (135, 35-2), Pete Baldwin (140, 46-1), Paul Zupofska (152, 12-3), Levi Clemons (171, 48-1), Chris Pagan (189, 23-14) and Reggie Turner (285, 18-13). E.J. Jiminez (34-5) was second at 119 pounds and Danny Adams (103, 15-13) was third.
The top four in each weight class advance to the state tournament next week.
Brandon, the 2A state champ last year, moved up a class for 2010. OHS is the defending 3A state champ.
Gateway sends six wrestlers to regionals, including 103-pound champion Alex Velez (32-13). Ålso qualifying, in third place, are Kristopher Mora (119), Bryan Rosa (125), Christian Vazquez (152) and Billy Hook (215). Justin Alise (130) was fourth.
Twenty-nine county wrest-lers advanced from last week’s 2A-5 tournament at Celebration, were Oviedo (258) defeated Edgewater (122.5), Harmony (113), Liberty (106), St. Cloud (89.5), Celebration (73) and Oak Ridge (26). The 2A-2 regional tournament is at Lake Gibson.
Four county wrestlers won district titles, including St. Cloud’s defending state champion Frank Cousins (160, 44-0) and his teammate, Trent Livingston (152, 35-9).
Also earning district titles were Liberty’s Felix Betancourt (130, 36-4) and Harmony’s Chris Grillo (140, 23-7).
Nine Harmony wrestlers advanced. In addition to Grillo, Ariel Dominguez (2nd. 103), Chris Valdez (2nd, 112), Justin Owens (4th, 119), Matt Vaughan (2nd, 130), Joey Finneran (2nd, 135), Alex Githens (3rd, 171), Justin Hall (3rd, 189) and Andrew Davis (4th, 215) advanced.
Coach Chris Todd said his team wrestled well in the opening round and the semifinals, but he would like to see more of his district finalists earn gold medals.
“Our kids know that we have to do a better job of closing out matches in the finals if they want to get past this weekend,” Todd said. “That’s something we’re going to be working on.”
Joining Betancourt from Liberty at the regional final are Corey Grey (3rd, 125), Joshua Garcia (4th, 145), J.J. Elisis (3rd, 160), Aric Fernandez (2nd, 171), David Dumas (4th, 189), Angel Perez (3rd, 34-6) and Sammy Diaz (3rd, 285).
Celebration has six regional qualifiers in Josh Price (3rd, 112), Josh Douglas (2nd, 119), J.J. Francis (3rd, 145), Curtis Temple (3rd, 24-6), Xavier Martin (4th, 160) and Cameron Ward (2nd, 189).
“It will be hard to get anyone through (to the state meet), but we will stick our nose in the fight,” Storm assistant coach Vic Lorenzano said.
St. Cloud’s Josh Chattin (2nd, 285) and Hunter Raddatz (4th, 140) advanced to the regionals, as well.
Poinciana had two district champions and seven qualifiers last week at the A-7 tournament. Benson Bazilme (125) and Brian Lesniak (215) won district titles.
Tavarus Alcime (152) was a runner-up. Keith Stephenson (112), Nick Petrovick (171), Brandon Harris (285) and Jerry Bazilme (130) also qualified. The Eagles go to Mantanzas High Friday.
Kissimmee wrestler Fox Baldwin, a seventh-grader, won the 112-pound district title for Lake Highland Prep Saturday.
The state tournaments at the Lakeland Center begin Feb. 18.