Osceola duo can with their third career championships
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Surrounded by Head Coach Vic Lorenzano and his assistant coaches, Harmony had three regional champions (from left) Shawn McCallister, John Fernandez and Nathan Lytle. PHOTO/HARMONY HIGH SCHOOL
After breezing to regional championships, Osceola High School seniors Anderson Heap and Gunner Holland will have a chance to finish their high school careers on a high note this as three-time state wrestling champions.
The duo is a part of the 18 males qualified over the weekend to compete in the 2024 FHSAA state championships at the Silver Spurs Arena beginning Thursday. Championship matches are Saturday evening.
Heap and Holland dominated their classes at the Class 3A, Region 2 meet at Osceola High School. Heap, looking for a third straight title, qualified again by rolling through the 150-pound class. With two pins and a technical fall, his season record is now 54-5.
Holland, who won titles as a freshman and sophomore before finishing third a year ago, was equally impressive, with three pins and a technical fall in the regionals, including a first period pin in the finals.
“Those two guys have been battling injuries and illnesses all season,” Osceola coach Rick Tribit said about his senior leaders. “Both had outstanding tournaments, and they are getting healthy at the right time.”
Osceola boasted two other regional champions: freshman Adaias Ortiz (48-7) won at 113 pounds with an emphatic pin in the finals, and Isfandier Sharipov (28-6) won a decision at 132 pounds.
They’re joined by six other Kowboys who qualified via top-four regional finishes: Talyn Fisk (3rd at 120), Ehab Shalaby (3rd at138), Jayson Ortiz (4th at 144), Nathan Cabrera (2nd at 157), Deacon DeLong (4th at 165), and Bryan Gari (4t and 190).
Trailing by nearly 50 points in the team score at the start of day two, Osceola battled back to finish second in the region behind Palmetto Ridge (203-198.5).
“At the end of the day, I was really happy with the results but not totally satisfied with our performance. Still, we advance 10 to the state finals and had four regional champions. I was really pleased how we fought back in the consolation rounds. I think we went 5-0 in the consolation semifinals or ‘blood round,’ matches they had to win to get to states. We’ll make adjustments and hopefully improve next week.”
Osceola will attempt to extend two remarkable state meet streaks this weekend: its 18th consecutive year with at least one individual state champion, and 18th consecutive top-six team finish.
None of Celebration and Poinciana’s six regional wrestlers advanced, although Celebration’s Jorge Feliz just missed at 113, falling in the consolation finals (the “blood round”).
Harmony and Tohopekaliga wrestled the 3A-Region 3 meet at Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee. Battling several state powers including eventual champion Wellington (180 points); the Longhorns were an impressive second place (167.5) out of 31 teams.
Harmony had three regional champions: Nathan Lytle (106), Shawn McCallister (158), and John Fernandez (175).
Lytle (37-2) dominated his finals match against Freedom’s Xavier Santiago in the finals – winning by technical fall, 16-1.
Shawn McCallister (43-1), a 3A state title favorite, blitzed through regionals with three falls and a 14-4 major decision over Giovanni DeAngeles (Park Vista) in the finals, 14-4.
Fernandez, who transferred to Harmony from St. Cloud after his junior year, won his first regional title with a 7-4 decision over Wellington’s Dwayne Shaw.
Top-four finishes by Gabriel Nascimento (3rd at 126), Carlos Rodriguez (3rd at 132), Carlos Estrada (2nd at 138) will give Harmony six wrestlers this weekend. Last year, Harmony finished sixth in the 3A team race.
“Our guys battled like crazy in a super hard regional,” Harmony Coach Vic Lorenzano said. “I was really pleased with our resolve in some tough battles in the consolation rounds. We are a team that is battle-scarred and tested and that has given us a hard edge heading into states.”
Tohopekaliga sends one of its seven regional qualifiers to state —138-pound regional champ Nate Barrett. Barrett recorded a fall and a pair of major decisions on his way to the win.
St. Cloud and Gateway wrestled in Region 2A-2 —the “Region of Doom,” with defending state 2A champion Lake Gibson and state powers Brandon and Winter Springs. Lake Gibson won the team title as Gateway advanced Jason Perez, who finished second at 106. Of St. Cloud’s eight wrestlers, three reached the “blood round,” where their season ended.
The FHSAA is also running the single-classification girls state championship tournament at the Silver Spurs with the boys event. Girls regionals were held last week, and the county featured three regional champions: Osceola’s Anoyah Whayne (100-pound class), Liberty’s Delialah Betances (120) and Poinciana’s Kaylie Collado (145). They will be joined this weekend by the county’s other county qualifiers: Celebration’s Alea Morales (4th at100); Osceola’s Paola Ramirez (2nd at 115), Erica Hernandez (4th at 140) and Lily Tucker (3rd at 170), Harmony’s Kiley Vinson (4th at 135) and Emari Brown (2nd at 190) to give the county a total of 27 state qualifiers.
