By MATMEN, Saturday, 1:05 p.m.
JACKSONVILLE — A three-way fight for the District 2 title ultimately came down to one extra pin Wednesday at Westside.
Defending champion Westside was able to find that extra oomph in holding off both Baker County and Oakleaf to defend their home mat, as the Lady Wolverines scored 82 points to the 80 put up by the Lady Wildcats and Knights.
Westside automatically advanced four wrestlers (three champs, one 2nd) to the Region 1 tournament on February 18 at Matanzas. Baker County will take six (one champ, three 2nds and two 4ths), while Oakleaf also moved on four (three champs, one 2nd).
Ed White, with 59 points (four region qualifiers, one at each qualifying place), was fourth, with Riverside rounding out the top five with 36 (two region qualifiers, one champ & one 3rd). Paxon scored 32 points (one champ) for sixth, followed by Stanton (28 points, one champ & one 2nd), Fletcher (26 points, two 3rds), Sandalwood (24 points, 1 champ), Columbia (one 2nd) & First Coast (one 2nd) tied with 18 points, Bishop Kenny 14 (one 3rd), Raines 11 (one 4th), Baldwin nine (one 3rd) and Wolfson seven (one 4th).
Brief summaries of each contested weight class follow:
110 — In a three-person bracket, Baker County’s Makayla Johnson (16th statewide per Kabrawrestling.com) needed just one victory, and just one takedown to grab that, to win the top medal, pinning First Coast’s Aniella Garcia-Lopez in 55 seconds for her first district title. Garcia-Lopez clinched at least second with a 26-second pin over Baldwin’s Kaylin Stephens in the bottom-half semi.
115 — Ed White’s Zakiya Williams seized control early of the final in a two-person bracket, with five points in the first period and takedowns in each period before winning by fall in 5:19 over Stanton’s Rhodaisha Norgaisse for her first district title.
120 — Top seed Kailani Barrientos (2nd) racked up two first-period falls for her first district title with pins over Raines’ Maryah Jones (:43) in the semis and over Westside’s Layah’ Mixon (1:30) in the final, needing just one takedown and two turns to get the pin. Mixon reached the final with a semifinal pin (2:28) over Fletcher’s Nicole Anderson, who won twice by pin in the consis to claim third, with a medal-round fall in 2:59 over Jones.
130 — Paxon’s Nichole Guzman needed just one takedown in a two-person bracket, using that to seize control and win by fall in 1:49 over Baker County’s Mackenzie Jordan for her first district title.
135 — Sandalwood’s Sara Goodman (12th) won by fall twice, taking pins in the semis over Wolfson’s Kiele Rife (1:47) and then in the title round over Baker County’s Kylee Hopkins for her first district title. Goodman worked a 3-point nearfall turn in the first period and then rode in the second to claim the pin in 3:15. Hopkins reached the final with a 7-0 semifinal win over Fletcher’s Aidan Arthur, who rallied for third with a pin (2:50) over Rife for third.
140 — Riverside’s Jasmine Gore also took two pins for her first district title, falling Ed White’s Helen Lake (:57) in the semifinal round, then pinning Columbia’s Carlee Morrison (14th) in 4 minutes to claim first. After Gore got first takedown, Morrison reversed and got a late nearfall, only to be reversed back; that also happened in the second period and in that instance, Gore was able to claim the pin. Morrison reached the final with a pin over Baker County’s Madison Jordan; Lake won by medical forfeit over Jordan to take third.
145 — Westside’s Degriece Coleman (11th) earned the Lady Wolverines’ first title of the day and her second overall, with pins in the semis over Ed White’s Lasharon Williams (:46) and in the title match over Oakleaf’s Sofia Shirley-Montijo, with takedowns in both the first and second periods before taking the fall in 2:32. Shirley-Montijo pinned Riverside’s Siniayra Thomas in 1:22 in the semis; Thomas would then fall Williams in :36 for third.
155 — Karla Ortiz (4th) made it back-to-back titles for the Lady Wolverines, with two pins in 96 seconds for her second district title. Ortiz falled Baker County’s Lyla Peebles (:57) in the semis and needed just one takedown to pin Ed White’s Francelle Williams in :39 to win the championship. Williams pinned Bishop Kenny’s Mallory Frattle (13th) in 1:20 in the semis to get to Ortiz; Frattle then took consi-side pins over Paxon and over Peebles (3:06) to wrestle back to third.
170 — In a two-person bracket, Oakleaf’s Jayla Harrison (5th) won her first district title, pinning Baker County’s Deanna Walker in 1:31. Harrison took first takedown nearly 30 seconds in, riding for nearly a minute before securing the fall.
Stanton’s Mackenzie Mock (100), Oakleaf’s Adrianna Barrientos (2nd at 105) and Westside’s Trayce Goodman (235) were the only wrestlers to weigh in at their respective weight class, claiming their titles at weigh-in. Mock and Adrianna Barrientos became two-time champs, while Goodman won her first title.
There were no wrestlers who weighed in for either the 125 or 190 brackets.
Results for this tournament, and all 15 other district tournaments, can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 