By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

There was plenty of good news at the Osceola High gym Saturday for the home wrestling team.

Not only did 145-pounder Pete Baldwin set a new national record for most career victories (305), but the Kowboys won their A.J. Jones Memorial tournament with a 4-0 record.

Osceola, which travels to the Rotary Invitational at Flagler Palm Coast Friday, defeated Palm Harbor, 54-23, to raise its duals record to 25-4.

The Kowboys reached the championship match by stopping Lakeland George Jenkins in the semifinals, 48-33.

The Kowboys also beat Melbourne, 51-27, and Davenport Ridge Community, 52-30.

“Melbourne ended up finishing third, so we beat the second, third and fourth teams at the tournament,” Osceola Coach Jim Bird said. “The guys did real well.”

Several OHS wrestlers were unbeaten at the tournament, in addition to Baldwin, who broke the national record against Palm Harbor’s Allen Myers with a 43-second pin.

Tim Locksmith, Alex Rivera, Paul Zupofska, Wade Ridings and Trevor Darnell won all their matches.

OHS Assistant Coach Rick Tribit said freshmen Cody Dana and Spencer Lacey wrestled well, along with E.J. Jiminez, Ryan Osborn, Jhalen Flanders, Ben Cruz, Rashad Marshall, Hakeem Butler, Miguel Crespo, Kenny Martin and Hugo Cedillo.

Outgoing seniors Cedillo, Darnell, Jiminez, Rivera and Baldwin were honored before the championship match, which was the last home match of the season for OHS.

Bird said Osceola’s rugged holiday schedule, where the team competed at the South Dade Duals in Miami and at the Powerade tournament in Pennsylvania, has helped his team.

“We wrestled hard. I knew the trips would be good experience for the kids. Even when you lose, you learn some stuff,” Bird said.

Celebration reached the finals of the Bradenton Southeast Duals Saturday with victories over St. Petersburg Seminole (40-30), Bayshore (63-13), Southeast (54-18) and Palmetto (40-26).

The Storm fell in the championship match against Venice (48-21), but Coach Vic Lorenzano was proud of his team’s performance.

“The guys gave a valiant effort but came up short against Venice,” he said. “But, we brought home a nice piece of hardware in the runner-up trophy.”

Josh Douglas (33-2, 29 pins) won the 119-pound championship and Skylar Lerner (25-18) won at 135 pounds. J.J. Francis (21-2) claimed the 145-pound title for Celebration.

Justin Temple at 160 and Cameron Ward at 189 won four matches.

The Storm, 14-10 in duals, join OHS at the Flagler Palm Coast tournament.

Harmony did well at the Terry Parker Duals at Jacksonville last weekend, earning runner-up to Creekside.

The team competed without one of the county’s top wrestlers, 171-pounder Alex Githens, who was ill. The Longhorns won six matches, led by unbeaten Chris Furber (103), Sean Speer (119), Matt Vaughn (135), Joey Finneran (140) and Chris Grillo (145).

The team competes at a Dunedin tournament Saturday against the host, Citrus and South Fort Myers.

“Should be some tough competition,” Coach Chris Todd said. “It’ll give our guys a chance to see some wrestlers from our region, also.”

Liberty took four wrestlers to the Buzz Hill Invitatioinal at Naples Barron Collier last weekend where Aric Fernandez (189) won the tournament championship, J.J. Elisis (160) was third and Freddie Ruiz (171) placed fifth.

The team will compete at the Ron Peters Tournament of Champions at Lake Mary.

Poinciana Coach Adam Hopman said Michael Shephard (119) and Jerry Bazilme  (130) lead his team.