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Kealonie Vega (39-1) recorded four pins to become the first Osceola High state champion, winning the 100-pound class. PHOTO/XAVIER VEGA -
Harmony's second state wrestling champion and finishes his season with a 46-0 undefeated season. PHOTO/J. DANIEL PEARSON -
Osceola High scored 103 points to place third as a team (Photo courtesy Osceola High)
A great day Saturday at the FHSAA wrestling state championships resulted in four state championships for county schools and Osceola High School pushing its their streak of having at least one individual champion to 17 years.
Kowboys Anderson Heap (145-pound class) and Cooper Haase (152) defended Class 3A titles, Kelonie Vega took home gold in the girls’ 100-pound class and Harmony’s Nelson Toro completed an undefeated season with a championship at 285 pounds.
Heap (56-2 on the season), took a 3-1 decision over South Dade’s Misha Arbos in the Class 3A, 145-pound class. It was second close match between the two in less than Duals championship match in late January. Saturday, the two wrestled to a scoreless tie in the first period before Arbos got an escape in the second to take a 1-0 lead. Heap got a takedown with 38 seconds remaining and then rode Arbos out for a 2-1 lead after two periods. Heap managed an escape to make it 3-1 and then the two wrestled to a stalemate the rest of the way with the match ending with both wrestlers on their feet.
“He (Arbos) is an excellent wrestler and a tough opponent. He likes to lead with his left foot and that’s the side I like to attack from,” Heap said. “I was able to take advantage of that and after getting the take down riding him out for the rest of the period was a huge factor in the end.”
Haase gave the Kowboys their second state champion moments later when he pinned Riverdale’s Alexander Soto. He needed less than a period to pin him to complete a 49-1 season. The championship was Haase’s fourth straight and tied him with legendary Kowboys wrestler and all-time national wins leader Fox Baldwin for most state titles in school history.
“I grew up watching Fox and Malyke Hines (a three-time state champion) and I wanted to be like them,” said Haase, who will wrestle collegiately at West Point. “It’s been a great ride for me here and I am honored to join Fox as a four-time Osceola High champion.”
Two-time state champion, junior Gunner Holland, suffered a 5-3 loss to South Dade’s Lawrence Rosario – the eventual state champion -- in Saturday’s 170-pound semifinal. He came back and recorded a major decision over Miami Palmetto’s Ronald Butler in the third-place match.
“Obviously disappointed,” Holland said. “I had my chances in the semis and came up short. If anything, I promise you this will inspire me next season.”
Coach Rick Tribit said Holland wrestled the last half of the season with torn ligaments in his hand, along with several other injuries that could require off-season surgery. “To his credit, he never once complained or used the injuries as an excuse, Gunner is just tough as they come.”
Holland’s third place finish was one of two for the Kowboys; promising sophomore Elijah Vansickle suffered a disappointing 3-2 loss in the semifinals but came back with two more wins in the consolation round to secure third place. Vansickle (34-10) went 4-1 in the state tournament and improved throughout the year.
“He overcame some early season injuries but also got better and better every week,” Coach Rick Tribit said. “He has a chance to be a title contender in the future.”
Evan Martinez (120) and Jomar Sanchez (190) finished sixth as Osceola put six wrestlers on the podium to score 110 points and take third in the team Class 3A race. The Kowboys, who also finished second in the state dual meet championships in January, finished with their 17th consecutive top six team placement in the state IBT.
“We took seven wrestlers to states and six made the podium. We had a top three team finish at the IBT and a runner-up in state duals,” first year Osceola coach Rick Tribit said. “Simply put, I could not be any prouder of Cooper, Anderson and our entire team.”
Despite experiencing several devastating injuries to key wrestlers this year, Harmony sent four wrestlers to the 3A state meet; three reached the podium, including Toro, who finished his campaign with a perfect 46-0 record with a hard-fought 7-4 decision over Palmetto Ridge’s Austin Foye in the finals.
“It was a great season for Nelson, after moving up from 220 last year,” Longhorns coach Vic Lorenzano said. “All season he was giving up 20 or 30 or more pounds to his opponent and while he may have been quicker and more athletic in most of those matches, there’s always a danger of getting trapped by a bigger opponent. For him to go undefeated says a lot about how smart a wrestler he is.”
Toro becomes Harmony’s second state champion but first “homegrown one” according to Lorenzano. “Nelson is the first of hopefully many future Longhorn champions who wrestled all four years here.”
With only four wrestlers in the tournament, Harmony also did well with a sixth-place finish in 3A. Rey Ortiz (132) and Shawn McCallister (138) both finished on the podium taking third and fourth place respectively. “We had a lot of injuries this year and only were able to get four to the state tournament,” Lorenzano said. “But with three making the podium including our just our second state champion in school history makes it a very satisfying season.”
The second annual state girls tournament was held in conjunction with the boys’ tournament. It was a single class tournament and Osceola, Gateway and St. Cloud were among the 125 schools that participated. Osceola’s Kealonie Vega (39-1) breezed through the field with four straight pins in the 100-pound class to become the county’s first official state champion. Vega, considered one best in the country, most likely would have won a state championship last year but missed the season with an ACL injury. She has wrestled with the boys’ team several times in her career, posting a winning record.
“I’m so happy to be win the state title, especially after missing last season by injury,” Vega said. “This has really been a dream season for me.”
Kelliana Mack (35-12) placed 7th for Osceola at 130 and Cathia Timas (44-13) placed 7th at 140 as OHS compiled 60 points to finish in fourth place as a team.
Gateway was in 15th place with 34 points and had Emiliana Martinez (36-5) reach the finals at 155, where she lost a 5-0 decision to undefeated Mya Bethel (27-0) of North Miami. Elody Rodriguez (27-12) placed 4th at 145 for the Panthers.
