Lake Highland looked for more motivation
After a disappointing showing by the standards that Lake Highland Prep’s wrestling team set for itself at national tournaments this season, the seventhranked team in the country returned to Florida feeling the need to reevaluate its goals.
It was a given that the Highlanders, winners of four consecutive Florida High School Athletic Association state championships, would be heavy favorites to add another first place trophy to the collection at this weekend’s individual bracket state tournament at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee. They needed more motivation than that after failing to match or exceed the top five national ranking they achieved last season.
“We had to figure out what we were going to do for the next two months with the goal always being to improve and make guys better,” Lake Highland coach Mike Palazzo said of the measures he and his staff took after the team went 0-3 at the Who’s #1 national tournament in New Jersey in January.
That weekend included a stinging 30-27 loss to Buchanan of California and followed performances at the Beast of the East tournament in Delaware, the Powerade in Pennsylvania and the loaded Ironman tournament in Ohio where the Highlanders also fell short of their hopes.
Pursuing perfection in each competition that remained became one of the mantras as the Highlanders strived to hit a collective reset button mentally.
A week after the Who’s #1 road trip, the Highlanders achieved perfection at the FHSAA state dual series finals when they swept all 14 individual bouts in a 72-0 sweep against Fort Lauderdale against Cardinal Gibbons in the Class 1A championship match.
For the individual bracket state series, which started two weeks ago, Lake Highland sought more perfect showings and put additional pressures on itself by having some wrestlers move up to higher weight classes.
Joey Silva, the four-time state champion and topranked wrestler in the country at 132 pounds, is competing with 145 pounders this postseason. Other wrestlers on the team are going to try to win state titles in weight classes they haven't competed in all season because of the focus shifting to the challenge.
“Sometimes you have to up the ante,” Palazzo said. “We needed to put some things on the line.”
So far, the team has been up to the challenge.
In the 1A, District 7 tournament, Lake Highland won every match, going 14-for-14 for the first time in an individual bracket tournament.
The Highlanders followed up last weekend with another perfect region performance, the first time in state history a team swept all 14 weight classes in a region tournament.
And while Lake Highland should have its sixth team state title wrapped up by lunchtime on Saturday, success this weekend won’t be measured by how previous state champions like Silva, Erich Byelick (182), Ben Goldin (220), Ryan Chauvin (126), Noah Castillo (138) and Nic Bouzakis (120) perform.
LHP’s success will be measured by how its entire lineup performs and that shines the attention on Danny Nini (106), Jake Wohltman (113), Bailey Flanagan (132), Cameron Monzadeh (152), Kai Bele (160), Max Cosmides (170), Logan Andrew (195) and Curtis Ruff (285).
Tickets are $9 per session in advance through Ticketmaster; $12 on the day of the event. Parking is $7 for cars, cash only.
South Dade is a heavy favorite to take home its fifth consecutive 3A title and 13th in school history. The Buccaneers have nine wrestlers who could be competing for a state title on Saturday evening.
In 2A, the team race is up for grabs with Brandon in danger of seeing its 17-year streak of championships snapped by state duals winner Lakeland Lake Gibson.
Lake Gibson beat Brandon in district and region tournaments and is wellpositioned to take home its first state IBT title. Also chasing the 2A crown will be Fort Myers Riverdale, Punta Gorda Charlotte and Spring Hill Springstead.
Wrestling begins this morning at Silver Spurs Arena at 10 and continues into Saturday with semifinals at 9:30 a.m. and the finals taking place at 6:30 p.m.