Bears duo among top threats

Winter Springs has just seven wrestlers competing, but the Bears could find themselves on the Class 3A team podium Saturday night at the FHSAA state wrestling tournament in the Silver Spurs Arena.

The Bears bring a team to Kissimmee that is loaded with heavy hitters, including two wrestlers who could be considered favorites .

Max Wohlabaugh at 160 pounds and Cole Mitchell at 170 are the top-ranked wrestlers in their weight classes .

The Bears also expect Dimitri Alicea (145), Jason DeGroat (182), Montana Lewis (220) and T.J. Boyd (285) to compete for top places, which could help Winter Springs to its best finish since ending up second in 2015.

Freedom and Kissimmee Osceola will also contend for top-ten finishes in 3A. The Patriots qualified six wrestlers while the Region 2 champion Kowboys advanced eight.

South Dade is a heavy favorite to take the 3A team title.

Dr. Phillips' senior Dylan Meeks (285) will also be looking to win his fourth state title.

He has lost just two matches in his high school career and none in the past three seasons.

The 2A team race should be the most exciting this weekend with Brandon seeking to extend its record run with a 17th consecutive state crown.

Lakeland Lake Gibson and Fort Myers Riverdale are expected to give the Eagles a challenge.

The only question in 1A is how many in individual state champions prohibitive favorite Lake Highland Prep will end up with.

The fourth-ranked team in the nation qualified 13 wrestlers and looks to match or better last year's record haul of nine individual champions.

Wrestling begins this morning at 10 a.m. The semifinals are at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday with the finals beginning at 6:30 p.m.