By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Last week, Osceola High’s Pete Baldwin Jr. won the 145-pound championship at the Powerade Christmas Tournament at Canonsburg, Pa., one of the nation’s elite prep wrestling events.

At the same tournament, Baldwin, a senior, recorded his 300th and 301st victories, the most ever by an Osceola County wrestler and just three away from the national record of 304, shared by Travis Sullivan of Monticello High, Kentucky, and Josh Johnson of John Hardin High, also in Kentucky.

Baldwin, the 2008 119-pound Class 3A state champion, has an opportunity to set the national record Saturday when the Kowboys host the A.J. Jones Memorial Duals at the OHS gym.

The 16-team tournament brings several local and state powers to the OHS gym, including Timber Creek, Palm Harbor, Miami Braddock and Lakeland George Jenkins.

Kowboys Coach Jim Bird said Baldwin, 31-0 this season, may be the nation’s winningest prep wrestler after Saturday’s tournament, which begins at 9 a.m.

“It depends on how the team does, but it could happen. We might move him up to 152 pounds for a match to find him some better competition,” Bird said.

Baldwin, a five-time state qualifier who began his varsity career as a sixth-grader at Life Academy, signed early to Old Dominion University in Virginia in November.

He said Tuesday that he hasn’t thought much about setting a national record.

“I take every match seriously, whether it’s for a state championship or in the regular season,” he said. “I know (the national record) is coming up, that it will happen, but I’m not treating it any differently than any other match.”

Early in December, Baldwin set the national record for most pins, breaking Michigan Hesperia High’s Justin Zeerip’s career total of 202.

Baldwin was the headliner for OHS at the Powerade tournament, but most of the Kowboys performed well at the tournament as OHS finished 16th overall in a 44-team field that included many of the nation’s best teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Georgia.

“Every one of our guys that we took up there won a match. The competition there is unreal. Every match is like a dogfight,” Bird said. “What was really good was that our JV kids went there and did extremely well. That was a great experience for them. Plus, we got to see a little snow, and someone loaned us a sled, so they had a great time with that. It was a good trip.”

Osceola’s Spencer Lacey (160) placed second at the JV tournament and Rashad Marshall (215) was fourth. Two other Kowboys reached the semifinals.

Assistant Coach Rick Tribit said the Kowboys had an opportunity to compete before many of the nation’s college coaches.

“We were proud of the compliments our kids received on the way they competed and their conduct,” Tribit said.

The Gateway Panthers also made a long and successful holiday trip where they placed seventh at the Winder-Barrow High tournament in Georgia.

Sophomore standout Alex Velez, 24-1, won the 112-pound championship with four wins. Also placing for Gateway Coach Jon Smorin were Kris Mora, third at 125, Bryan Rosa, second at 130 and Christian Vazquez, fourth at 152.

“We are a very young team, but we are coming together more and more each week,” Smorin said. “We were just seven short points away from finishing third overall, something inconceivable when we first took over just a year and a half ago with only eight wrestlers.”

The Panthers visit Bradenton Manatee Friday. Next week, the team travels to Key West.

Celebration last competed at the Lyman Christmas Duals in mid-December, where 119-pounder Josh Douglas was 5-2 at the tournament and fourth overall. He is 28-2 for the season.

“The coaching staff is excited to see where Josh is right now and we think he is continuing to position himself as a state contender,” Coach Vic Lorenzano said.

J.J. Francis placed fourth at 145 pounds as he recovers from knee surgery and is 16-2 overall, while Skylar Lerner improved to 20-8 at 135 pounds and placed seventh.

Justin Temple improved to 21-7 and placed fifth at 160 pounds and Curtis Temple placed seventh at 171 pounds and stands 8-4 for the season.

Cameron Ward (189) was fourth and 23-6 overall.

“Cameron had a great tournament and was in every match,” Lorenzano said.

Brandon Harris was seventh at 215 pounds and is 14-2. The Storm competes Saturday at Bradenton Southeast.

Harmony travels to Jacksonville for the Terry Parker Duals Saturday after  its Christmas tournament, where the Longhorns beat Cypress Creek for fifth place.

Matt Vaughn (135 pounds, 21-6), Chris Grillo (145, 22-4) and Alex Githens (171, 19-2) were undefeated at the tournament, while Joey Finneran (140, 19-6) won seven matches.

Harmony was 15th at the Zac Jarzynka Tournament at Oviedo last week as Finneran was sixth, Vaughn fourth and Grillo second with three pins.

“It wasn’t our best outing as we were shorthanded because of the holiday break,” Coach Chris Todd said.

The Longhorns visit Olympia Tuesday before hosting Poinciana Jan. 14.

Liberty, the Orange Belt Conference champion, was off over the holidays and resumes action Friday at the 32-team Buzz Hill Invitational at Naples Barron Collier High.