By MATMEN, Thursday, 6:10 p.m.
Metro Conference
When & where: Friday & Saturday at Winter Park.
Teams in the field: In addition to the host Wildcats, Apopka, Boone, Colonial, Cypress Creek, Dr Phillips, East River, Edgewater, Evans, Horizon, Jones, Lake Buena Vista, Lake Nona, Oak Ridge, Ocoee, Olympia, Timber Creek, Wekiva, West Orange and Windermere will be in competition.
Defending team champion: Freedom.
Returning individual champions: Tamarion Kendrick (Apopka); James Gonzalez (Winter Park); Eric Aja (Freedom); Joey Parker (Winter Park); Elijah Alvarez (Freedom).
Synopsis: I’m looking for the Patriots as most likely to repeat, but Timber Creek’s on the move after last Saturday’s win at home in the Wolfpack IBT, and that momentum bounce could be useful for the Wolfpack. Olympia could also be in the mix after a region-duals appearance last month. Most of the returning champions are all bunched around the middles, so the lower and upper bookends could be critical for the team that goes home Saturday evening with the team championship.
State-ranked wrestlers (listed by weight class in ranked order) —
106: Jacob Rothman (Winter Park, 3A-20th).
113: Pedro Sifuentes (East River, 2A-6th); Marlo Clark (Timber Creek, 3A-8th).
120: Jesten Conty (Freedom, 3A-15th).
126: Raymond Cavey (West Orange, 3A-14th).
132: James Gonzalez (Winter Park, 3A-12th); Michael Dupuy (East River, 2A-15th).
138: Eric Aja (Freedom, 3A-5th); Tamarion Kendrick (Apopka, 3A-7th); Jovan Vukajlovic (East River, 2A-19th).
145: Seth Galvin (Wekiva, 3A-14th); Madden Bourst (Olympia, 3A-15th).
152: Joey Parker (Winter Park, 3A-6th); Andrew Wittenberg (Timber Creek, 3A-11th); Tyran Schanck (Evans, 3A-14th); Evan Colon (Boone, 3A-19th).
160: Micah Wittenberg (Timber Creek, 3A-9th).
170: Kenneth Dean (Cypress Creek, 3A-12th); Elijah Cherelus (Orlando Freedom, 3A-20th).
220: Liam Glassmeyer (Winter Park, 3A-11th); Keniel Carrasquillo (Ocoee, 3A-15th).
285: Peter Nesheiwat (Timber Creek, 3A-4th); Deandre Scott (Ocoee, 3A-7th); Holley Saintmelus (Wekiva, 3A-9th).
All rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings