By MATMEN, Sunday, 9:20 p.m.
GULF BREEZE — Florida girls teams in the Panhandle area found themselves looking up at their Gulf-based rivals at the conclusion of the inaugural Ryan Blackwell Girls Invitational on Saturday.
The host Dolphins were the top Florida team, taking third with 68 points, trailing champion Gulf Shores (AL) (103) and runnerup Ocean Springs (MS) (91).
Niceville (57) and North Bay Haven (56) rounded out the top five teams in the 12-team event.
Florida wrestlers won four of the tournament’s eight weight-class divisions, with Gulf Breeze’s Camdyn Elliott (100-105) and Lily Powell (115) taking titles for the Dolphins. Alexis Orcutt (155-170) was victorious for Niceville, while Sigrun Metzger of seventh-place Crestview won the 110 title.
Elliott (19th at 100) took three first-period falls to win the 100-105 title, with pins over W S Neal (AL), North Bay Haven’s Hayden Hauck and Niceville’s Isabella Wall. Elliott’s pin in 1:17 over Hauck, in round 2, was the effective championship match; Elliott also won a tournament OW award as a result.
Powell (14th at 110) needed to win five matches for her weight class, and took pins in all five, with four in the first period. Her round-1 fall over a Gulf Shores wrestler (1:42) wound up being the decisive championship match.
Metzger (4th at 105) got a solid challenge in taking the 110 title; like Powell, Metzger had to win five times and did, with four pins, plus an 8-4 decision in round 2 over the hosts’ Helena Alcantar (5th at 110) that served as the effective title match.
Finally, at 155-170, Orcutt had three pins in a four-person roundrobin, with a second-period pin (3:03) over Ft Walton’s Remi Martin in round 1 the effective title matcnh; she also had pins over Gulf Shores and Mosley’s Trinity Brannon.
In addition to Hauck, Alcantar and Martin, runnerup finishes were secured by Choctaw’s Atlantis Carroll (120), North Bay Haven’s Katherine Lundgren (125) and Niceville’s Alexis Krumnow (130).
Results from the tournament can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 