PUNTA GORDA — In the quest to build a program, travel to find good — and somewhat unfamiliar — competition is essential.
In that spirit, New Smyrna Beach made the long drive across the state for Charlotte’s Gene Gorman Showcase two-day duals event, taking third with a 6-2 record on the weekend.
The Barracudas (21-5 in duals on the season) were 4-1 in Friday’s first day, with wins over Pinellas Park (72-3), Mariner (43-42 in criteria), Barron Collier (42-35) and Ft Myers (49-27), falling only to the host Tarpons, 72-6.
On Saturday, New Smyrna Beach opened with wins over Port Charlotte (51-30) and Venice (37-36) before falling to tournament runnerup and 1A state champion Jensen Beach, 56-18.
Individually, the Barracudas were led by Jamey Bruner (126), who was 7-1 with three pins and a decision.
Six NSB wrestlers had five wins on the weekend, as Jace Engberg (138/145, 5 pins) was 5-2, with Jonathon Bruner (120, 2 pins & major), Simjay Engberg (132, 3 pins & decision), Aidan Sutton (138/145, 3 pins), Sawyer Vanrider (182, 3 pins & major) and Dylon York (195, 4 pins & decision) all recording 5-3 tournaments.
Beau Laye (113, 2 pins), Austin Mitchum (220, 2 pins & decision) and Cole Billings (285, pin) were each 4-4 for the Barracudas, with Richard Crunkilton (106, pin) going 3-2 on the first day.
New Smyrna Beach will host Flagler Palm Coast in a single dual on Wednesday.
RESULTS: Box scores for the entirety of the tournament can be found HERE.
MISSING: We have a lot of missing results, from several teams around the coverage area, and we need YOUR help to clean that up. Please check out our SCHEDULE PAGE; if your school is listed as pending, or an event in which you took part is pending, see if your coach can send in your team’s part of that event. We will post results at any time of year, no matter how late they are when they are sent.
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