19 from county, 7 Kowboys at state wrestling

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19 from county, 7 Kowboys at state wrestling

Sports

Thursday, 18 February 2010 00:34

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
By any measure, Osceola’s wrestling team performed extraordinarily well at last week’s 3A Region 2 meet at Brandon, claiming four individual champions and advancing seven wrestlers to the state tournament Friday.
But host Brandon, winner of nine straight state championships, was unstoppable as all 14 of its wrestlers moved on to the state tournament while claiming the regional team championship with 313 points. Brandon moved from Class 2A to 3A this year.
“Sending 14 to state, that’s something that they’ve done maybe one other time in their history,” Osceola Coach Jim Bird said.
But when the state tournament gets under way Friday at the Lakeland Center, the defending Class 3A state champion Kowboys will be anything but bystanders.
“We’ve got seven in, and if all seven of them get on the medal stand, we’ve got a chance,” Bird said
Joe Locksmith (135, 40-2), Pete Baldwin (140, 51-1), Gabriel Bird (145, 51-0) and Levi Clemons (171, 52-1) won regional titles for the Kowboys. All except Bird, a fiver-time state qualifier, own state championships.
Tim Locksmith (119, 48-7) and Jeremy Strickland (125, 35-7) were regional runners-up, while E.J. Jiminez (112, 38-7) was fourth.
“We beat three Brandon guys in the finals, so we felt good about that,” Coach Bird said. “Our guys are battle-tested; they’ve been there before. Brandon is strong, but we’re not giving up.”
Gabriel Bird, the coach’s son, knocked off nationally ranked Clark Glass, of Brandon, in the semifinal round to maintain his perfect record.
“He’s having a great season. He’s dinged up like most of our guys; he got eight stitches in his brow in the finals, but it’s not going to slow him down now,” Bird said. “This is what they’ve all been after all year; we’ll be ready.”
Bird said with 26 wrestlers qualifying for the Class 3A state meet from Dade County powers South Dade, Columbus and American, Brandon will have to fight hard for a 10th consecutive state championship and 22nd overall.
“It all depends on who knocks out who, and how we work through the bracket,” Bird said. “Nothing’s been decided; we have a shot.”
Every Osceola County school except Celebration will have a representative at the state meet, with a total of 19 Osceola County wrestlers earning berths at the state tournament.
Gateway freshman Alex Velez (34-14) qualified at 103 pounds in Class 3A.
Ten county wrestlers advanced from the 2A-2 regional at Lake Gibson, where St. Cloud’s defending 160-pound state champion Frank Cousins (48-0) emerged with a regional crown.
Joining him at the Class 2A state meet is teammate Josh Chattin (40-5), a heavyweight.
Four Liberty wrestlers advanced: Felix Betancourt (130, 40-5), a two-time state qualifier; J.J. Elisis (160, 33-18); Aric Fernandez (171, 33-7) and Angel Perez (215, 38-7).
“Looking at the brackets I have a lot of faith in my guys and we will work very hard this week in preparation for a good showing at the state tournament,” Coach Eric Scrivens said.
Four advanced from Harmony: Ariel Dominguez (103, 28-8); Chris Valdez (112, 36-9); Matt Vaughn (130, 42-8) and Chris Grillo (140, 27-8).
Vaughn reached the 130-pound finals. Grillo, who placed third, is making his second trip to state, and the first since his freshman year.
“We had taken five to state in the previous five years, so to almost double it was a great step for our program,” Harmony Coach Chris Todd said. “We also finished fifth in the region, and moving up from Class A to 2A, in what was one of the toughest regions, I was really impressed with how our kids wrestled against the tough competition. The team this year has been really special. One of the best we’ve had since we started.”
Poinciana’s Benson Bazilme (125, 31-6) qualified for the Class A state tournament.
Kissimmee’s Fox Baldwin (54-4) won the 112-pound regional championship Saturday for Orlando Lake Highland Prep. He will make his second appearance at the state meet, becoming the first wrestler in Florida history to qualify for the state wrestling meet in the sixth and seventh grades.
Wrestling at the Lakeland Center begins Friday at 9 a.m. The semifinal round Saturday starts at 11 a.m. The finals get under way at 6:30 p.m.