Two Lady Kowboys win regionals among state qualifiers
Wrestling is the final winter sport to be contested, and the road to the state tournament began on Saturday for the boys, as seven county schools sent teams to district tournaments.
At Harmony, Osceola held on to defeat the Longhorns (237.5-233.0) for the District 3A-9 title. It was the third close head-to-head victory between the programs; they won a state district dual match and the Orange Belt Conference championship by similar close margins.
“People keep counting us out, but I love how our kids set a target and are also able to wrestle from behind. We have a lot of points in our lineup and we left a few out in the mat, but we have another week to fix that,” said Osceola coach Rick Tribit, who will host Friday’s regional tournament.
The Kowboys posted five district champions: Ehab Shalaby (144 pounds), Ibrahim Rustam (150), Nathan Cabrera (157), David Yi-Sanchez (165), and Deacon Delong (190). Those five, along with Jovanni Ortiz (105-3rd place), Angel Agramonte (113-3rd), Isfandier Sharipov (138-2nd), Jonathan Olmo (3rd-175), Elijah VanSickle (2nd-220) and Jacquille Knox (285-3rd) all advance to next week’s regional tournament.
The top of the Longhorn line-up was once again tremendous as it opened the tournament finals with five district champions: Tristin Horn (106), Nathan Lytlle (113), Nevan Irving (120), Landon Davis (126) and Max Butler (132).
Christian Rodriguez (3rd-138), Brody Williams (4th-144), Jalison Cabrera (2nd-157), Julio Bernaez (4th-165), Seth Scutero (2nd-190), and Aiden Maldonaldo (2nd-285) also advance as the Longhorns send 11 to the regionals.
“We had to use a backup at 150 but overall I thought we did as well as we could expect, especially at the top of the lineup,” Harmony coach Vic Lorenzano said. “We may have left a few points out there, but I guess Osceola can say the same thing. We’re extremely pleased to have five district champions and to be sending 11 to regionals next week.”
Celebration will advance three to next week’s regionals: Jared Alzarez (4th-126), Jorge Macias (2nd-132) and Austin Werner (2nd-150); while Poinciana qualified Jose Herrera (3rd-120) and Raeven Velasco (4th-175).
St. Cloud and Tohopekaliga wrestled in the District 3A-10 meet in Ft. Pierce. Viera (243) won the team championship; while the Tigers were third and St. Cloud was fourth. Both the Bulldogs and Tigers posted two district champions: St. Cloud’s Luc Beaulieu (106) and Carter Rivera (113) and Toho’s Bryan Battles (165) and Valentino Benavides (215).
Eighteen wrestlers from those two schools will advance to the Region 3 tournament. Additional top four finishers from Tohopekaliga include Angel Mundo (113), Matt Hoenshell (126), Max Bayliss (136), Daniel Fortado (138), Carlos Rodriguez (140), Nathan Barrett (150), Juan Hidalgo (157), and Josue Marte (170). Jacob Delarosa (120), Nick Restrepo (135), Yompol Berrero (165), Eann Mesa (220) and Andrew Colantano (285) move on for St. Cloud.
At Lyman High Saturday, Gateway (176.5 points) finished second at the District 2A-8 championship). The Panthers advanced 13 of their 14 wrestlers to next week’s Region 2 Tournament at Brandon High – including district champion Jacob Perez (113).
Meanwhile on the girls’ side, nine county wrestlers qualified for the state championships at the Region 2 meet held on Friday at Osceola High on Friday.
Osceola High led the way with six state qualifiers, including regional champs Paola Ramirez (125) and Denalie Dauphin (140), Aniyah Wayne (2nd-100), Alea Ramirez (4th-105), Genesis Fuentes (2nd-135) Erika Hernandez (2nd-145) and Lily Tucker (3rd-170). Harmony is sending three to the state championships: regional champ Kiley Vinson (130), Zuhaily Caffrey (4th-155) and Kaetlyn Holt (3rd-235).
Of the 65 teams at regionals, Freedom won the team title with 235.5 points; Osceola was third (158.5), Harmony was sixth (86.5), Tohopekaliga 20th (23), Gateway 21st (19) and Poinciana 39th (6).
Although both the boys and girls state championship will be run concurrently at Osceola’s Silver Spurs Arena March 6-8, the girls’ district and regional tournaments were schedule a week ahead of the boys’ events.
Prior to Friday’s girls regional at Osceola, all county teams were among 24 at the District 6 meet at Viera High. The county had a strong showing, placing three teams in the top five with the Lady Kowboys claiming second place (201.5) just behind champion Viera (214). Harmony (191.5) was third and Gateway (100) fourth.
Osceola County sent 25 wrestlers to the girls regional thanks to top-4 finishes, including five district champions from Osceola High: Wayne (100), Ramirez (125), Dauphin (140), Hernandez (145), and Tucker (170). Harmony’s Vinson (130), Caffrey (155) and Holt (235) claimed district champions.
