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Wrestling
WRESTLING
It was another top three-tournament finish for the Harmony Longhorns, and both Poinciana and Liberty claimed individual champions as five county schools participated in the Milton Winter Memorial Invitational Wrestling Tournament at St. Cloud High School, Jan. 18-19.
The Longhorns tallied 205.5 points to trail only state power Fleming Island who won the event with 301. Winter Springs was third with 179.5.
Other finishes from county schools included St. Cloud in 6th at 94.5, Poinciana was seventh with 82.0, Gateway was 12th with 57.0 and Liberty was 15th in the 25-team tournament with 46 points.
“After losing a tough match to defending state champion Lake Gibson in the Regional Dual Championships, I thought we rebounded well in the Milton Winter Tournament,” Harmony head coach Vic Lorenzano said. “We placed second behind only 3A state power Fleming Island, claimed two individual champions and placed seven wrestlers on the podium. It was a solid all-around effort.”
Aiden Poe (126) and Dylan Jones (129) each captured individual championships for the Longhorns. Poe, now 28-2 on the season, cruised to the title with a pair of falls and a pair of technical falls in reaching the finals where he pinned Spanish River’s Ryan Feinstein in the championship match at the 3:52 mark. Feinstein is ranked 6th in the state in Class 3A.
For his performance, Poe was named the tournament’s “Outstanding Wrestler.”
Jones, 19-2 on the year, defeated two ranked wrestlers in winning at 129. He defeated sixth ranked (3A) Riley Holton of Fleming Island in the semifinals, 11-0; and defeated fifth ranked (3A) Jack Stone of Venice High in the finals, 7-2.
Other top finishes by Harmony wrestlers included Melvin McEwen who placed 2nd at 141-pounds, Payton Bolton who was 4th at 155, Sean Serry who was 4th at 163, Marshall Smith who took 2nd at 185, and Jaun Gomez who was 2nd at 198.
St. Cloud’s top finisher was Wilfredo Martinez in the 163-pound class. Martinez, 16-3 on the season, made it through the semifinals before dropping a 6-1 decision to Fleming Island’s Luke Chop. He would enter the consolation round, pinning Harmony’s Serry in the first period to claim third place.
Twelve different wrestlers contributed team points for the Bulldogs.
Poinciana had an individual champion and placed three in the top six at the tournament.
Zayveon Mitchell claimed the title at Poinciana at 123-pound weight class, pushing his season record to 19-3. He defeated Deltona’s Luis Vazquez in the semifinals, 10-2, before winning a 6-1 decision over Fleming Island’s Ryan Hobson.
Other placers for the Eagles included Landon Trigueros (21-4 season record), who took 4th at 109-pounds and Queylen Hill (18-1), who took 3rd with a technical fall win over Gateway’s Kyjaun Allen by a 17-2 count.
In addition to Allen’s fourth place finish, the Panthers also took a third as Jared Colon when to 23-10 on the season by defeating Nick Rehberg of Winter Springs in the consolation finals.
Liberty had one champion in William Valach (12-4) who four times to claim the title at 109. Valach met Venice’s Lauren Stone in the finals, where he took a 7-4 decision.
