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PHOTO/METRO
The District Dual Wrestling Championships were held last weekend, with Osceola, Harmony and St. Cloud all advancing to the regional championships.
The Dual State Championships were created a few years ago to determine the best all-around team in wrestling. While the individual championships in March also crown a state team championship, team points could only be earned by qualifying wrestlers in the individual weight classes.
The Kowboys had little trouble in their Class 3A, District 6 Duals, capturing the district crown with big wins over Celebration (62-12) and Davenport Ridge (74-6) in the early rounds, before trouncing Lakeland’s George Jenkins in the finals, 63-11.
Multiple Osceola wrestlers went 3-0 in the district tournament, including defending state champions Cooper Haase and Jaekus Hines.
The tournament also saw the return of Nolin Eaddy to the mat. The senior who placed second in the state championships last year, missed the first two months of the wrestling season as he was busy playing linebacker for the Osceola football team that advanced to the state championship football game in December. Eaddy picked up three wins in his first action of the year by recording wins in two different weight classes in the event. He pinned Celebration’s Michael Nicasio at the 222-pound weight class in the quarterfinals, before moving down to the 197-pound class to pin Ridge’s Francisco Perezcotto in the semifinals, and then recording a first period fall over Jenkins’ Nathan Peoples in the same weight class.
The Kowboys host regional competition today, with Bloomingdale expected to be the major obstacle for Osceola to advance to the state championship.
Harmony participated in the Class 2A District 5 tournament, where it finished second to advance to the regionals. The Longhorns rolled through Edgewater (70-12), South Lake (64-15) and Poinciana (70-12) to advance to the finals. But missing two regulars, Harmony lost in the championship match to host Winter Springs, 38-19.
“You just can't spot a team like Winter Springs two forfeits and 12 points and still come out on top unless you win every close match,” Head Coach Vic Lorenzano said. “But we ended up losing seven matches in the finals – five by a total of one point each. It was a tough loss, but I like the way we competed.”
The regional competition will be tough sledding for Harmony. Among the competition will be Lake Gibson, the defending Class 2A state champions. The 3-1 performance by the Longhorns gave Lorenzano his 500th win as a head coach, making him just one of four head coaches in Florida to reach that milestone.
St. Cloud also advanced to regional competition with a second place finish District 9, Class 3A meet. The Bulldogs easily defeated Dr. Phillips (69-6) and Boone (54-24) in the single elimination tournament before falling to a talented Freedom team in the finals. 40-34.
“Seniors Spencer O’Neill, Galen Drawdy and Brandon Garcia all scored huge wins against Freedom to keep up in the match,” St. Cloud Head Coach Eric Scrivens said. “Junior Maverick Hauser went undefeated on the day as did Caleb George, and Freshmen Carson Estrada. I’m very proud of the team on the whole as we are still not at full strength and had to deal with some injuries during the meet. Hopefully we will be at full strength for regionals.”
St. Cloud will face District 10 champion Ft. Pierce in the first round of regionals; while Freedom will take on District 10 runner-up Treasure Coast.
