By MATMEN, Friday, 6:15 p.m.
Ocoee Mat Classic
When & where: Saturday at Ocoee.
Teams in the field: In addition to the host Knights, the 2022-23 coverage area will be represented by Apopka, Bolles, Evans, Horizon, Wekiva, West Nassau, West Orange, West Port & Winter Park. From outside the coverage area, Celebration, Colonial, Dunbar, East River, Gateway, Jones, Lake Buena Vista, Lake Highland Prep, North Ft Myers, Sebastian River, Tohopekaliga and Vero Beach will be in attendance.
Defending team champion: Gateway.
Returning individual champions: Meison Broche (Gateway); Nolan McKelvy (West Nassau); Aidan Cooper (Gateway).
Synopsis: The tournament is the last regular-season event in the coverage area for 2022-23. The final opportunity against other competition before teams dive back into their respective districts for competition next week. Last year was a good fight between Gateway and Windermere for first, and so with Windermere not returning, I’d project Gateway to defend — they do have two returning champs — but I’d guess Vero Beach is going to be a strong contneder.
State-ranked wrestlers (listed by weight class in ranked order) —
106: Jacob Rothman (Winter Park), 3A-20th).
113: Egan Gustilo (Tohopekaliga, 3A-5th); Pedro Sifuentes (East River, 2A-8th).
120: Landon Higginbotham (West Nassau, 1A-7th).
126: Blayden Tharpe (West Nassau, 1A-9th); Raymond Cavey (West Orange, 3A-14th).
132: James Gonzalez (Winter Park, 3A-12th); Nathan Barrett (Tohopekaliga, 3A-15th); Michael Dupuy (East River, 2A-15th).
138: Tamarion Kendrick (Apopka, 3A-7th); Jayson Ortiz (Tohopekaliga, 3A-11th); Kevin Benjamin (Vero Beach, 3A-17th); Jovan Vukajlovic (East River, 2A-19th).
145: Seth Galvin (Wekiva, 3A-14th).
152: Joey Parker (Winter Park, 3A-6th); Tyran Schanck (Evans, 3A-14th); Reggie Cuesta (Tohopekaliga, 3A-18th).
160: Niko Huff (Sebastian River, 2A-12th); David Benjamin (Vero Beach, 3A-16th).
170: Cooper Patton (Vero Beach, 3A-9th); Aiden Sanchez (Dunbar, 2A-10th); Chase McBroom (Celebration, 3A-11th); Jacob Noid (Tohopekaliga, 3A-17th).
182: Nolan McKelvy (West Nassau, 1A-7th); Luis Rosario (Tohopekaliga, 3A-13th).
195: Johnathon Roberts (Vero Beach, 3A-13th); Jonathan Tumblin (Sebastian River, 2A-13th); Chris Luyanda (Tohopekaliga, 3A-17th).
220: Liam Glassmeyer (Winter Park, 3A-11th); Keniel Carrasquillo (Ocoee, 3A-15th); Jaquan Jean (Vero Beach, 3A-18th).
285: Deandre Scott (Ocoee, 3A-7th); Holley Saintmelus (Wekiva, 3A-9th);
All rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings
North Florida Matmen 