Ryan Blackwell Invitationals
When & where: Saturday at Gulf Breeze
Boys teams in the field: In addition to the host Dolphins from the area: Bay, Bozeman, Choctaw, Crestview, Destin, Ft Walton Beach, Freeport, Milton, Mosley, Niceville, Rocky Bayou Christian, Tate. Out-of-state teams include Archbishop Rummel (LA), Gulf Shores (AL), Ocean Springs (MS) and W S Neal (AL).
Girls teams in the field: In addition to the host Dolphins from the area: Bozeman, Choctaw, Crestview, Ft Walton Beach, Milton, Mosley, Niceville, North Bay Haven; Tate. Out-of-state teams include Gulf Shores, Ocean Springs and W S Neal.
Area returning champions (all boys): Michael Mancuso (Gulf Breeze); Colson Elliott (Gulf Breeze); Garret Rudick (Gulf Breeze).
Synopsis: Gonna be a lot of wrestling happening in one day on Saturday, with both boys’ and girls’ competition happening. The host Dolphins should be the top Florida team in the field, but Bay is going to make some things interesting, and Gulf Shores usually has solid squads. Ft Walton Beach’s representatives are a split-squad effort. On the girls’ side, we’ll be crowning an inaugural champion, and it will be fun to see how the Panhandle shakes out on that side.
Milestones: Bay junior Derrick Williams and Niceville senior Ethan Pinto (if he’s here and not at Capital City Classic, seems that they’re enrolled in both) are both just two wins away from 100 for their respective careers.
Area boys’ state-ranked wrestlers (in alphabetic order) —
106: Garrett Ferguson (2A-19th, Gulf Breeze); Alec Poole (2A-13th, Gulf Breeze).
113: Derrick Williams (1A-1st, Bay).
120: Leonardo Sanchez (1A-16th, Bay); Coby Shields (2A-16th, Gulf Breeze).
126: David Drake (1A-20th, Bay); Nate Weber (2A-13th, Gulf Breeze).
132: Ethan Pinto (2A-19th, Niceville).
138: Mancuso (2A-20th, Gulf Breeze).
145: JJ Martinez (2A-6th, Niceville).
152: Elliott (2A-7th, Gulf Breeze).
195: Marshall Dixon (2A-16th, Mosley).
All rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings/class-1a
Girls’ state-ranked wrestlers (in alphabetic order) —
100: Alexis Brown (4th, Milton); Camdyn Elliott (19th, Gulf Breeze); Elisabeth Vonkeyserling (16th, Bozeman).
105: Sigrun Metzger (4th, Crestview).
110: Helena Alcantar (5th, Gulf Breeze); Lily Powell (14th, Gulf Breeze).
115: Lahela Grady (6th, Tate).
120: Aireaana Gavere (4th, Milton).
130: Kiiaana Gavere (7th, Milton).
170: Henlee Haynes (1st, Mosley; if competing).
190: Shyann Donaldson (12th, Milton).
All rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings/girls
North Florida Matmen 