Wrestlers looking to pin down titles
Six Orlando area boys ranked No. 1 in their weight class hope to pin down FHSAA championships at this week’s Individual Bracket Tournament (IBT) wrestling state meet at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
The tournaments, which includes boys and girls, open today with first-round matches starting at 12:30 p.m.
In Class 3A, Osceola has two No. 1 seniors sitting at No. 1 in the KabraWrestling.com rankings updated Sunday following regional meets.
Anderson Heap (54-5 record) goes for a third consecutive state title while sitting atop the 150-pound rankings and Gunner Holland (44-6) aims for his third title in four years at 175.
Holland finished third last year while competing with torn ligaments in one hand.
Harmony has the other 3A No. 1 in Shawn McCallister (43-1) sitting at the top of the heap at 157 pounds — pun intended. McCallister beat Heap in the Orange Belt Conference Championship meet. Heap was wrestling up a weight division.
In 2A, the wrestler who accounted for McCallister’s only loss is among three top-ranked boys from Winter Springs.
Jaydon Robinson, a senior who transferred in from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Illinois, is No. 1 at 144 pounds with a 47-2 record. He wrestled up a class in the Cousins Milton Winter Invitational at St. Cloud and defeated McCallister in a 150-pound match.
Robinson’s only losses came at the prestigious Walsh Ironman tournament in Ohio.
Winter Springs senior Elijah Penton went undefeated as a 170-pound state champ. He is 44-5 this season with five quality losses as 2A’s top-ranked 175-pounder. Three defeats came at the Ironman. Another came against a Georgia standout, and the other was vs. Holland in four overtimes at Osceola’s Knockout Christmas Classic.
The Bears’ other No. 1 is senior Ryan Phillips (34-6) at 138 pounds. He was ranked second before defeating previous No. 1 Christian Fretwell of Lake Gibson in a regional semifinal. Phillips placed third at last year’s state finals.
Competition is scheduled to resume at 9:15 a.m. on Friday, with semifinal bouts set for 1:30 p.m., followed by consolation matches. Action continues at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, leading up to finalist introductions at 3:15 p.m. and championship matches at 4:15.
Admission is $11 per day if purchased in advance via Ticketmaster and $11 the day of.
Here are top area wrestlers to watch. They are listed with their KabraWrestling.com ranking and weight class:
CLASS 3A
2. Nathan Lyttle, Harmony 106
2. Adaias Ortiz, Osceola 113
2. Nikolas Blake, Hagerty 138
1. Anderson Heap, Osceola 150
1. Shawn McCallister Harmony, 157
1. Gunner Holland, Osceola 175
2. Jermael Paul, Evans 285
CLASS 2A
1. Ryan Phillips, Winter Springs 138
1. Jaydon Robinson, Winter Springs 144
1. Elijah Penton, Winter Springs 175
GIRLS (ONE CLASS)
3. Matie Coutinho, Freedom 105
3. Delialah Betances, Liberty 120
3. Bry Kaminsky, Orange City University 130
3. Chloe Shull. Timber Creek 155
2. Jada Jones, Apopka 190
3. Emari Brown, Harmony 190
3. Rotchiva Clermont, Freedom 235
Baseball bonanza
Host Lake Brantley won its Big Blue Bonanza tournament for the second time in three seasons last week as the high school baseball season opened.
The Patriots (3-1) won 5-2 vs. Mount Dora Christian (3-1) on Friday in the championship game.
Senior Isaac Padilla went 3-for-3 with a double and 2 RBIs. Sophomore Justis Mike was 2-for-3 with a stolen base and 2 runs scored.
Padilla and Mike combined to go 10-for-17 at the plate in three tournament games. Brantley pitchers combined for 26 strikeouts and 6 hits allowed in 20 innings.
Lake Brantley also recorded a 1-0 win vs. Apopka and 10-0 win in six innings vs. East River in the tournament before tasting its first defeat in a 2-1 loss in eight innings against Oviedo (3-1) on Tuesday.
Oviedo’s Robbie Mitchell struck out 8 and allowed no hits in five innings in a pitchers duel against Nick Burgos, who fanned 9 in five innings. The Lions won on a hit by Kyle Ball that scored Braden Minnetto and Henry Alarcon.
Mount Dora Christian rolled past Windermere High (2-1) in six innings during a 13-1 Big Blue semifinal win. Justin Earle went 1-for-2 with 2 walks, 2 stolen bases, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. He also struck out two batters in 1 innings pitched.
The Bulldogs also posted a wild 17-11 win against Lyman on Tuesday night.
Tracking alums
Markel Jones, who won large-school state titles in both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles as a Lake Mary senior last spring, helped USF win the American Conference indoor track and field championship for the first time on Saturday. He won the 60-meter hurdles final in a school-record time of 7.81 seconds.
Bishop Moore product Marc Morrison, a junior at UConn, repeated as the Big East indoor long jump champion with a leap of 24 feet, 10 inches (7.59) meters. He was the 2A state champ as a Hornets senior in 2021.
Both Jones and Morrison ran track and played football in high school.
Extra points
Bishop Moore alum Olivia Miller, now a UF freshman, became the first Gators softball pitcher to throw two perfect games in a season when she shut down Lafayette in a five-inning 21-0 home victory.
Emilie Escalara’s threerun walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth gave Winter Springs (2-0) an 8-5 softball win against Oviedo.
Parker Perales, a Lake Brantley junior, scored his 100th career boys lacrosse goal in a 12-8 win by the Patriots (2-2) against Windermere High last week.
Reigning state lacrosse champ Lake Mary, 24-0 last season, routed Brantley 21-1 on Monday and is off to a 5-0 start going into some challenging games this week.