By MATMEN, Sunday, 9:30 p.m.
PALM COAST — After some serious travel during the course of the 2022-23 season, the Matanzas girls got to enjoy the full effect of their home mat Saturday.
Saturday, at the Lady Pirate Classic, the hosts grabbed five weight-class titles and enjoyed a sizable lead over Dr Phillips for tops in the team classification, outpointing the Lady Panthers, 221-173, for first place in the 17-team IBT event.
Middleburg (126.5 points) was third, Bartram Trail (117) fourth and University-Orange City (97) fifth, followed by Lincoln (90, 6th), Oakleaf (67, 7th), Tocoi Creek (57, 8th), Chiles (49, 9th), Florida High (41, 11th), Creekside (27, 12th), Nease (25, 13th), Columbia (23, 14th), Bishop Kenny (11, 15th), Flagler Palm Coast (nine, 16th) and Pedro Menendez (eight, 17th) rounded out the field.
Matanzas champions on Saturday were their four “usual suspects,” in Mariah Mills (110), Christina Borgmann (120), Brielle Bibla (130) and Kendall Bibla (140), but joining the Lady Pirate stars as a weight-class winner was Ani Brown at 235.
Brown only needed two wins for her weight-class win, but she had pretty solid competition to overcome in Dr Phillips’ Tanyah McCain (15th). After a scoreless first period, Brown got out in in the second to go up, then escaped again in the third; that, plus three penalty points, were the difference in a 5-1 win. In the rematch, both wrestlers had turns, but it was Brown that found a way for the takedown, turn and fall in 5 minutes.
Mills (5th at 110) had three first-period falls to win at 110, with pins over Florida High (:52) and Lincoln (1:17) before falling #14 Memphis Moses of Middleburg in 1:16 to claim the title. Mills didn’t give up a point all day, needing just three takedowns — one per match — to assert control en route to her pins.
At 120, Borgmann (2nd) had five falls, with four of them (Dr Phillips, Lincoln, University-OC and Middleburg) coming in the first period; the only one that did go into the second, in round 1 against Bartram’s Vanessa Stobe, was the effective championship match; Borgmann had a 3-pt turn in the first period; her takedown in the second was enough for the pin.
Brielle Bibla (1st) racked up four first-period falls to win at 130, needing just 2:27 of mat time to do it, with pins over Lincoln, two University-OC wrestlers and over Tocoi Creek’s Lucy Underwood in round 2, her longest match of the day (1:33). Bibla had a pair of 3-point turns in collecting that fall.
At 140, Kendall Bibla (3rd) was 2-0 with a pin and forfeit to take Pool A; in the crossover final, Bibla racked up pins over Columbia’s Carlee Morrison (1:35) and over Dr Phillips’ Jessy Jarret (20th at 145), in 58 seconds for the effective championship match. Bibla needed 4:17 of mat time, after missing last weekend’s event at McKeel Academy.
While runnerup Dr Phillips had no champions, third-place Middleburg had two, led off by Gracie Bradshaw (4th at 100). Bradshaw bonus-pointed through the 100 bracket, with four pins and a third-period TF (over third-place (and ninth-ranked) Sayuri Caceres of Lincoln; her 46-second fall in round 4 over Dr Phillips’ Ava Ceballos wound up being the effective championship match.
At 190, the Lady Broncos’ Cheyenne Cruce (1st) stayed unbeaten at 18-0, with three pins in 3:13 over three ranked wrestlers (50 seconds over Dr Phillips’ Frankesca Robles, ranked 11th, in the weight class’s effective championship match; :58 over 7th-ranked Hannah Matalobos of Bartram Trail, and 1:25 over the Lady Panthers’ 9th-ranked Emily Riveira).
Bartram Trail also had two champions in back-to-back fashion, led by Katherine Stewart’s title at 145. Stewart (2nd) was 3-0, like Cruce, with wins over three ranked wrestlers (1:19 over 12th-ranked Gabrielle Proctor of Matanzas; an 8-4 decision over #5 (140) Aryan Benson of Tocoi Creek (the effective championship match), and fall in 1:05 over Oakleaf’s Sofia Shirley-Montijo (#12 at 155).
Ava Burre (10th at 155) made it back-to-back Lady Bear titles but not before taking an 8-2 loss in Pool A to Matanzas’ Isabella Tietje (4th); she advanced out behind her fall over Bishop Kenny, and then pinned Florida High’s Claire Ajose-Adeogun in 42 seconds, the Pool B champ, for first place in the weight class.
Oakleaf, also, picked up two titles from the Barrientos sisters, as Adrianna (2nd at 105) and Kailani (1st at 120, competing at 125) were victorious. Adrianna Barrientos was 3-0 in Pool B (5-0 win over #6 Jaelyn Sunseri of University-OC; fall in 54 seconds over #5-100’s Lily Bradshaw of Middleburg, and a 13-2 major over Flagler), then falled Pool A champ Victoria Ceballos (12th-110) in 3:44 for the title.
Kailani won Pool A at 125 with 3 pins — one over #20 Chloe Parets of Florida Christian, in 1:53 — and then defeated Pool B champ Tiana Fries (7th) of Matanzas, 3-0, in the crossover. Barrientos forced two stall warnings for a penalty point in the first period, rode for the entirety of the second and scored a takedown 11 seconds into the third for the win.
University (Orange City)’s Bryanne Kaminsky (5th at 130, competing at 135) and Chiles’ Cadee Lyons (14th at 170) were solo champions for their respective schools. Kaminsky won Pool A at 135 with a pin and 8-4 decision, then took pins over Creekside’s Anjel Balkenbush (19th-130, fall time 2:29 in the effective championship match of the weight class) and over Matanzas’ Saiomy Cabrera (17th, in 2:44).
At 170, Lyons won Pool B with two pins (including one in 5:53 over Oakleaf’s Jayla Harrison, ranked 6th at 155), then had pins over Matanzas’ Brooklyn Watt (16th, fall time 3:40) and Dr Phillips’ Amy Etienne (9th, pin time 3:56 in the effective championship match).
In the one weight class won by the tournament’s only non-local team, Lincoln’s Amelia McKnight was 3-1 with two pins and a decision for second place at 115.
Complete team scores and brackets for this event can be found HERE. All rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings/girls
North Florida Matmen 