Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

More than half of Osceola County’s 23 entrants – the most ever – to the state wrestling tournaments at the Lakeland Center last weekend placed and two teams finished in the top 10.

Twelve wrestlers, five from Osceola High and three more from Liberty, placed among the top six of their respective weight class. The Kowboys (82) were fourth overall in Class 3A behind Brandon (269), and Liberty (49.5) was ninth in Class 2A behind champion Spring Hill Springstead (185).

Osceola High’s Pete Baldwin (54-0) capped a perfect season by winning the Class 3A 145-pound state championship. His 324 career victories and 242 career pins are national records.

Two more local wrestlers reached the finals.

Liberty senior Felix Betancourt (37-3) lost a 1-0 overtime decision to Springstead’s defending champion Virgil Toms in the Class 2A 130-pound final.

Harmony 103-pounder Ariel Dominguez (9-2), just a sophomore, reached the finals in Class 2A before losing  by technical fall, 16-0, to Springstead’s Richard Bliss.

Pete Baldwin’s brother, Lake Highland Prep eighth-grader Fox Baldwin (61-2), won the 119-pound Class A state championship and set the state single-season record with 53 pins.

Gateway, with 112-pound Matt Velez (48-9) placing sixth, was 32nd in Class 3A.

After Baldwin, E.J. Jiminez was fifth for OHS at 119 pounds, Chris Pagan (171) and Kenny Martin (152) were fourth and Tim Locksmith was sixth at 125 pounds while competing with a separated shoulder. He injury-defaulted his final two matches.

“To place at state with basically one arm, that was unbelievable,” OHS Coach Jim Bird said. “Every time he stretched it out, it would pop out.”

Bird called his team’s state meet performance, “pretty awesome.”

“Five of these guys are coming back next year. A couple of them, like Chris and Kenny, had never been to state before,” he said. “Kenny came back after shoulder surgery and wrestled great.”

Liberty Coach Chris Kelly said his team’s effort at the state tournament highlighted an excellent season.

“We sent a really tough team to states this year. We had a lot of injuries hit us at the wrong time and we made some mistakes here and there which cost us some matches, but I am very proud of our guys,” Kelly said.

Betancourt suffered a cut that required six stitches to his face in the state quarterfinals and he wrestled the semifinal and final rounds with his face covered in tape to prevent the cut from reopening, Kelly said.

“He gave an incredible effort in the finals. He’s been the best wrestler in our program four years, and cannot be replaced,” Kelly said.

After Betancourt, Liberty had two fourth-place finishers in Class 2A, Josh Garcia (42-8) at 152 pounds and Aric Fernandez (50-4) at 189 pounds.

“Aric had a bad ankle sprain in the quarterfinals and was having a tough time even walking and was still able to pull out a fourth place finish,”  Kelly said. “Josh wrestled a great tournament and is by far the most improved wrestler from last season to this season.”

The Chargers, who wrestled the Orange Belt Conference title from OHS in December, won the fourth-year program’s first tournament at Space Coast earlier in the season.

Fernandez and another state qualifier, Robert Torres, return.

Harmony Coach Chris Todd said he and his staff expected Dominguez, who joined the team late in the season, to excel at the Class 2A state tournament.

“We knew what a great wrestler he was and that he was capable of placing in the top two,”  Todd said. “He’s so strong for his size that most 103-pounders can’t match his strength. I remember Ariel telling me he was going to be in the state finals, and just two short years later he was.”

Harmony’s Chris Grillo (50-8) closed his high school career by finishing fifth at 145 pounds.

“Chris lost a tough first-round match and showed incredible heart and determination to wrestle back for fifth place,” Todd said. “It could have been a train wreck after he lost that first match, but Chris composed himself and wrestled with intensity and urgency. We’re proud of him for the way he worked hard over the past four years to overcome ACL surgery.”

Harmony’s Matt Vaughn reached the 135-pound quarterfinals and was leading 12-4, when he dislocated his elbow and was forced to injury default the remainder of his matches.

“Matt had worked hard to get back to the state tournament with the goal of reaching the finals,” Todd said. “He had the toughest weekend I can remember. He had defeated the kid from his side of the bracket who reached the finals.”

Vaughn became the school’s career wins leader (172).

“We are losing a lot of great kids this year. Our senior class has been one of the best a coaching staff could have,” Todd said.

Harmony placed 16th (34.5) in the 2A standings and Celebration (26.5) was 21st. The Storm’s Josh Douglas (52-6) placed fifth at 119 pounds after losing a close match to defending state champion Javier Estaban Rivera, of Miami Belen Jesuit, in overtime in the quarterfinals. He won by pin for fifth place.

“He was so close to making the finals. I know finishing fifth doesn’t seem like it, but if he had beaten the state champ, he had already pinned the kid from Fort Myers he would have had in the semis,” Coach Vic Lorenzano said. “He solidified his place in wrestling history at Celebration High.”

Two Storm wrestlers, J.J. Francis (145) and heavyweight Alvaro Noreno, upset top seeds in the first round. Cameron Ward at 189 pounds also won in the first round.

“We made history. We qualified four wrestlers, one a region champion. Both are firsts,” Lorenzano said. “The kids wrestled great. We’re already looking forward to next year.”

Gateway Coach Jon Smorin liked the progress his team made this season, highlighted by Velez’s performance at the state meet. Christian Vazquez placed among the top eight at 152 pounds  despite suffering a dislocated shoulder in a match against South Dade’s Andres Montero, Smorin said.

“Both of them are sophomores, and freshman Austin Seward was one match away from qualifying for states,” Smorin said. “We’re looking forward to the next couple of years, but we have a lot of work to do between now and then.”

Chargers Coach Chris Kelly said the local wrestlers put on quite a show.

“I am impressed with how everyone competed at the state tournament. Everyone had their ups and downs, but our county had three kids in the finals and several other placers,” he said. “Congratulations to the wrestlers from the county who competed and made our county proud.”