By MATMEN, Sunday, 7:15 p.m.
LAKELAND — Between George Jenkins’ two-day Moskowitz IBT and McKeel Academy’s one-day Massung Scramble, the weekend was a pretty good time to find some wrestling in the greater Lakeland area.
Three area teams made the weekend-long trip in for George Jenkins’ IBT, with Hagerty taking third with 181.5 points to bring the area’s top team performance.
Bay, with 82.5 points, was 10th in the 28-team IBT, while Raines was 24th with 31. Tampa Jesuit outpointed Riverdale, 233-194.5, for the title, with Strawberry Crest (179.5 points) and Tohopekaliga (159) rounding out the top five.
The area went home with one weight-class champion, as Hagerty senior Kamdon Harrison (3A-4th) ran the table at 160.
The top seed at 160, Harrison crushed the bracket all weekend, never having to go past the first minute, with Friday falls over George Jenkins (rd of 16) and Strawberry Crest (quarters) to go with Saturday pins over Plant City (semis) and Wesley Chapel’s Nick Iserino (2A-15th) in 36 seconds in the final. For the weekend, Harrison had a total mat time of 2:50.
Each area team had at least one runnerup.
First up among those was Bay’s Derrick Williams, who took his first loss of the season against some very elite competition. After pinning his way into the final, with falls over Lk Buena Vista (rd of 16), First Academy (quarters) and former Oakleaf wrestler Egan Gustilo, now competing for Tohopekaliga, in the semis (good for his 50th win of the season), Williams met Tampa Jesuit’s Roman Lermer (2A-2nd), falling by a 9-1 major.
Hagerty’s Nikolas Blake (132) and Hunter Tate (195) both reached the finals in their weight classes. Blake (3A-3rd) dominated the bottom half of the 132 bracket, with pins over Melbourne (rd of 16) and Wesley Chapel (quarters) and a 12-0 major over Strawberry Crest in the semis, but couldn’t catch up to 1A’s top-ranked 132, Clearwater Central Catholic’s Gavin Nolan, who won by fall over Blake in 1:07 for the championship.
Tate (3A-9th) had a bye into the quarters, then took pins over Tampa Jesuit (quarters) and Tohopekaliga (semis) before falling by an 8-3 count in the title round to unbeaten Robb Philippus (1A-7th) of Hudson.
Raines’ Gregory Townsend was unseeded entering the tournament, but that didn’t stop him from pinning through to the final, with pins over Pinellas Park (rattail), Tenoroc’s Steven Booker (2nd seed, 1A-14th), Pasco (quarters) and Riverdale’s Scevie Young (3A-19th, semis) en route to Winter Haven’s John Arellano, who also entered unseeded. Arellano won by fall, with no recorded pin time.
Moskowitz girls: Raines had one girls’ competitor in the girls’ IBT, which was staged on Friday; the Lady Vikings were 14th out of 16 teams, with six points. That wrestler, Maryah Jones, was fifth at 120.
Riverdale won three weight-class titles and outpointed Mater Academy, 98.5-83, for the team win.
Complete results for the boys’ tournament can be found HERE. Complete results for the girls’ tournament can be found HERE. All rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings
North Florida Matmen 