By Rick Pedone

Sports Editor

Until February, no Osceola County high school wrestler ever won consecutive state championships.

Then, over a one-hour span at the state tournament, Osceola High’s Joe Locksmith and Levi Clemons and St. Cloud’s Frank Cousins, accomplished that feat.

Locksmith, 43-2, who wrestled at 135 pounds in the Class 3A tournament, officially became the county’s first back-to-back champ when he pinned Winter Springs’ Eric O’Niel in 2:54 in a finals match that he dominated.

“That’s pretty cool. That’s something I never thought of,” he said about being the first to win back-to-back titles.

Cousins, who won the 160-pound Class 2A crown, then beat Oviedo’s Erin O’Dell, 7-2, at the state tournament, held at the Lakeland Center.

It was Cousins’ fourth win over O’Dell, capping a 52-0 season. His career record, 184-32, includes three trips to the state tournament.

Clemons, a USA Wrestling National Greco Roman champion, then joined the back-to-back champions club.

Like Locksmith, Clemons, 56-1, was in command of his 171-pound Class 3A title match against Brandon’s Kyle Koziel, earning a 5-3 win.

“I beat him at regionals and I was pretty confident,” Clemons, a four-time state qualifier, said.

For their unprecedented efforts, Locksmith, Cousins and Clemons are the Osceola News-Gazette Wrestlers of the Year.

Locksmith, who transferred to OHS prior to his junior year, had to overcome a midseason tendon injury.

“I’d never been injured before, so it was frustrating,” he said.

Even with the injury, suffered at the South Dade District 16 Duals in December, Locksmith competed at the Powerade Tournament in Pennsylvania, which featured many of the nation’s premier wrestlers, and Locksmith, incredibly, placed second.

“I knew something was wrong, but I just figured I’d see what I could do,” he said.

After sitting out three weeks, Locksmith returned to the lineup in time to prepare for the district tournament.

“It took me about a week to shake the rust off and get in pretty good shape,” he said.

Things went smoothly for Locksmith until the opening round at the state tournament.

“I didn’t properly prepare for that match and went to overtime,” he said. “The main thing I learned from that is that you have to be prepared for every match you wrestle. It would have been awful if that had caused me to lose my chance at the state championship. It was a lesson I was lucky to learn.”

Locksmith, who posted 180 career wins, including two seasons at Dr. Phillips, leaves in June for the U.S. Naval Academy, where he will compete for the wrestling team.

Clemons, bound for Tennessee-Chattanooga on a wrestling grant, expressed satisfaction at becoming one of the first county wrestlers to bring home back-to-back titles.

“They said at the senior awards ceremony that we were probably the best senior class ever to come out of the county, so it’s something that we can be proud of,” he said.

Clemons, a Kowboy throughout his career, said winning the Greco-Roman national championship prior to his junior year sparked his confidence.

“Yeah, you are competing against the best wrestlers in the country there, so after I got back to Florida I had a lot of confidence,” he said. “I knew that I wasn’t going to see anyone better than I saw at the national tournament.”

Clemons, a four-time state qualifier, is one of a small group of county wrestlers to surpass 200 career victories (205).

“It was just a process. I lost like 11 matches my first year, and I probably didn’t lose that many for the rest of my career,” he said. “It’s a progression. I’m not an old senior, I’m only 17, so when I started, I was a 14- or 15-year-old wrestling seniors.”

His only loss as a senior came at the Powerade Tournament against nationally-ranked Kenny Courts, of Pennsylvania’s Central Dauphin High, the three-time Powerade team champion

“That was a little bit of a surprise to me. I didn’t know him at all so I didn’t go in with a game plan, but he had a couple of great shots on me and got me down,” Clemons said. “It didn’t hurt my confidence at all. I knew I could win every time I went on the mat.”

During Clemons’ career, the Kowboys enjoyed un-precedented team success, placing third, second, first and second at the state tournament.

“I knew that we were going to have some great teams here, because at first Alex (Eggers) and Niko (Brown) were here, and I knew Gabby (Bird) and Petey (Baldwin) were going to be here, so we all knew that we should be able to win a state championship,” Clemons said.

Clemons will join his former OHS teammates, Brown  and Eggers, at UTC.

Osceola Coach Jim Bird said Locksmith and Clemons are two of the finest he has coached.

“Joe has done a great job since he joined us as a junior. He probably learned the greatest lesson he’ll ever learn at the state tournament when he almost lost in the first round, but that’s only going to make him a better wrestler,” Bird said. “Levi is a program kid, he’s done everything that you could do as far as his work ethic since he’s been here, and the results show that. I expect him to have a great college career.”

St. Cloud’s Cousins finished with a 184-32 career record that included three trips to the state tournament. Not only did he win the state championship, but he also won the “Mental Attitude” award at the state tournament, a credit to Cousins’ mental preparation and discipline on the mat.

At a school that has won a team state championship (2002) and boasts several state champions, Cousins very well could be the best of them all.

“I’m proud to be the first to win two state championships here because there have been a lot of great wrestlers in this program,” Cousins said. “When I got here, we had great teams and I learned a lot from those guys.”

Cousins signed a wrestling grant to the University of Wisconsin Tuesday at the St. Cloud media center.

St. Cloud Coach Matt Milton said that Cousins never became complacent, even when facing O’Dell for the championship after beating him three times.

“You can’t take that for granted. You have to be prepared because he’s a good kid from a good program, and you can’t go in there overconfident,” Milton said. “Frank handled it well.”

Milton, who took over as the Bulldogs’ head coach two years ago, said Cousins is a rare talent.

“There’s no ‘if’ about it, he is the best I’ve ever coached,” Milton said. “He’s what you want your program to be about.”

Former St. Cloud Coach Vic Lorenzano, now an assistant at Celebration, coached Cousins until his sophomore season and said Cousins is one of the best he has seen.

“I was blessed to coach Frank many years and I feel a great sense of pride in his accomplishments,” Lorenzano said. “Matt and Jose (Vasquez) did a great job of coaching him the last two years. I’ve been blessed to coach so many great ones, including Frank’s father, Frank Sr., and I’m aware that a Frank Cousins only comes along once in a great while.”

Rivals within the Osceola High program embrace Cousins.

“Frank is a quality kid, a great talent,” Osceola High assistant coach Rick Tribit said. “Our guys go to camps with him all the time and we think of him as one of our own.”