Once, twice, three times a champion!

Osceola County’s third winning wrestling final Saturday ended with a little style.

Moments after capping off a 24-8 technical fall win over South Dade’s Joshua Aviles to win the Class 3A 150-pound state championship, Osceola senior Anderson Heap elevated off the ground and shot an imaginary jump shot at the crowd. 

It was Anderson’s third straight state championship, and the unusual celebration was a tribute to good friend Cooper Haase, who won four straight state titles for Osceola from 2020-23. Haase would shoot an imaginary jump shot before every big match of his career.

“I was wondering if anyone caught the reference,” a smiling Heap said after his dominating performance. “Coop (now wrestling at the U.S. Military Academy) is such a great friend and influence on me I wanted to honor him a little after the match.”

After a close first period where he took a 3-2 lead, Heap controlled the rest of the match. For all the second period and most of the third, he recorded takedown after takedown, allowing an escape after each one – trading two points for one to build a huge lead.

“It was a great season and great way to cap off my senior season after struggling a little with injuries and illnesses,” Heap said. “The plan was to use my standup game to dominate and after a little bit of a slow start it came together.”

Heap finishes his career with a 200-15 record and a state runner-up finish his freshman year to go with his three championships. He joins Fox Baldwin, Haase and Malyke Hines as the only wrestlers in Osceola’s storied history to win three or more individual state championships.

The number eight ranked wrestler in the state by KabraWrestling.com, junior Isfandier Sharipov (32-6) gave Osceola its first state champion of the night with a stunning 3-2 upset of Southwest Miami’s Dillon Smith in the 132-pound final.

Sharipov trailed 2-0 through two periods. Starting on the bottom in the third, he recorded an escape to close within one midway through the third period. With less than 10 seconds remaining and both wrestlers in a neutral position on the ground, Sharipov spun out of a hold and gained Smith’s back for a two-point takedown and the victory.

It capped an incredible tournament for the junior, who won his quarterfinal match in overtime sudden victory, won by two points in the semifinals before edging Smith by one in the championship.

“It’s hard to explain but through districts and regionals I just started gaining more and more confidence each match,” Sharipov said.

His win extended Osceola’s streak of having at least one individual state champion to 18 consecutive years. In addition to finding room in the gym for the names of two more state champions, Coach Rick Tribit – who doubles as the school’s athletic director – will also have to find room for another team banner which is reserved for state champions and runner-up teams. With six wrestlers on the podium, the Kowboys finished with 119.5 points to finish second to perennial state champion South Dade (274.5). That matched the team’s second place finish in the state dual championships in January.

For a second straight year, Harmony had an individual state champion as Shawn McCallister (49-1) concluded his sensational season with a dominating 14-7 win over Palmetto Ridge’s Demetri Zertopoulis in the 157-pound final.

McCallister was only really tested once in the state tournament, taking a 6-3 decision over Doral Academy’s Jose Gutierrez. He won his first two matches by pinfall before dominating Zertopoulis in the final.

“As we continue to try to build our program, Shawn has played an integral part in that process,” Harmony coach Vic Lorenzano. “From his days as a youngster, we knew he had a chance to be special and he just kept getting better and better all season.”

Two other Kowboys wrestled for championships. Freshman Adaias Ortiz (51-8) lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Doral’s Christian Vazquez (42-1) I the 113-pound final and senior Gunner Holland (47-7) dropped a 4-3 decision to South Dade’s Kevin Olavarria (45-6). 

Holland led 3-1 late in the second period before giving up a controversial takedown at the buzzer just outside the out of bounds line. He gave up an escape with 1:30 remaining in the match to fall behind by one and Olavarria spent the rest of the match moving backwards.

“My heart just bleeds for Gunner and frankly the blame falls on us coaches,” Tribit said. “We knew what type of match (Olavarria) was going to wrestle and we didn’t do a good job preparing Gunner for it. I was disappointed the official waited to final eight seconds to finally warn him (Olavarria) for stalling. It was obvious that he spent the final 90 seconds just trying to stay away from Gunner.”

Holland finished his career with two state championships (2021-22), a third (2023) and a second (2024) in his career.

With sophomore Nathan Lytle (106) finishing third and Carson Estrada (138) finishing fourth, Harmony (58 points) finished sixth in the team standings.

Overall 15 Osceola County wrestlers earned All-State honors, including five girl wrestlers led by Liberty’s Delilah Betances, who finished second at 120 pounds in the third edition of the single-class FHSAA Girls State Championship.

OSCEOLA COUNTY’S ALL-STATE WRESTLERS

Girls (single class)
Paola Ramirez (36-6), Osceola, 5th Place, 115 pounds
Delialah Bentances (22-2), Liberty, 2nd Place, 120
Erika Hernandez (30-11), Osceola, 7th Place, 140
Kayle Collado (26-5), Poinciana, 6th Place, 145
Emari Brown (32-4), Harmony, 3rd Place, 190

Boys (Class 3A)
Nathan Lytle (41-3), Harmony, 3rd Place, 106
Adaias Ortiz (51-8), Osceola, 2nd Place, 113
Talyn Fisk (33-14), Osceola, 7th Place, 120
Isfandier Sharipov (32-6), Osceola, State Champion, 132
Carson Estrada (38-9), Harmony, 4th Place, 138
Nate Barrett (38-3), Tohopekaliga, 5th Place, 138
Anderson Heap (58-5), Osceola, State Champion, 150
Shawn McCallister (49-1), Harmony, State Champion, 157
Gunner Holland (47-7), Osceola, 2nd Place,  175
Bryan Gari (24-9), Osceola, 7th Place, 190