By MATMEN, Sunday, 2 p.m.
OCOEE — Rumors, as the pundit once put it and applied to a modern context, of Dr Phillips’ departure as a central Florida wrestling power proved to be more than a little exaggerated on Friday at Ocoee HS.
Balance across the Lady Panthers’ lineup gave Dr Phillips sufficient cushion to overcome Apopka’s six-pack of individual weight-class titles, as they outpointed the Lady Blue Darters, 199-182, for first place in the District 5 IBT.
The Lady Panthers qualified 11 wrestlers for Friday’s Region 2 tournament at Osceola, with three champions, four runners-up, one 3rd and three 4ths.
In finishing second, Apopka qualified seven wrestlers for regions, with the six champions as noted above plus one 3rd. The Lady Blue Darters finished 32 points ahead of host and third-place Ocoee, though the Lady Knights did qualify more wrestlers out automatically (nine, with three runners-up, three 3rds and three 4ths).
South Lake, with 95 points on five Region 2 qualifiers (one champ, two runners-up, one 3rd and one 4th), was fourth, while Evans (one runnerup, one 3rd and two 4ths) and Jones (one champ, one runnerup, one 3rd) tied for fifth with 62 points each.
Winter Park, with 54 points on one champion and one 4th, edged Colonial (52 points, one runnerup and two 4ths) for seventh, with West Orange ninth (50 points, all three of its wrestlers placing 3rd) and both Wekiva (one champ, one 3rd) and Windermere (one champ, one runnerup) tying for 10th at 41 points.
Edgewater (25 points, one 3rd), Horizon (20 points, one runnerup) and Olympia (11 points) rounded out the tournament field in 11th through 13th, respectively.
Additional region qualifiers may be added from the district in order to fill each weight class’s bracket, in accordance with an FHSAA-generated schematic.
A brief summary of each weight class follows.
100 — Apopka’s Hananeel Gregoire (ranked 11th statewide as per rankings released this morning by KabraWrestling.com) bonus-pointed through the weight class for her first title, with pins over Winter Park (1:17, quarters) and over Evans’ Virchelle Young (2:50, semis) before majoring Dr Phillips’ Ava Ceballos (13th), 13-3, to earn the first of the Lady Blue Darters’ six-pack of weight-class wins. Ceballos falled West Orange’s Jazmine Villicana (4:31) in the semis, with Villicana earning two pins, including a 6-minute fall over Young in the medal round for third place.
105 — In a two-person bracket, Winter Park’s Aliyah Gonzalez (4th) won her second district championship after falling Dr Phillips’ Victoria Ceballos (13th) in 3 minutes flat.
110 — Apopka’s Shelby Sherman joined Gregoire in setting up the front-half of two Lady Blue Darter sister combos to win titles Friday, taking her second district championship in a three-person bracket with just one win, a fall over Colonial’s Azsa Baptiste (1:17), in the final. Baptiste falled South Lake’s Haley Harvey in :26 to get to Sherman; Harvey received a bye for third place.
115 — Dr Phillips’ Leah Fountain (20th) grabbed her first career district title and team’s first title of the day, falling her way through three opponents, with pins over Edgewater (:59, quarters), Winter Park’s Maria Santana (3:32, semis) and Jones’ Sophia Singh in 4:49 for the championship. Singh punched her region ticket with a semifinal pin (2:37) over the hosts’ Amaliangel Rodriguez, who then won twice by fall in the consis, pinning Santana in 4:33 to place third.
120 — Windermere’s Alicia Williams won her first district title and her team’s lone district win; after a quarterfinal pin over Dr Phillips, Williams took decisions over Colonial (13-6) in the semis and again in the final over Horizon’s Deleilah Viteri, 10-7, for first. Viteri earned pins over Apopka (:20, quarters) and Edgewater’s Leah Ben-Israel (3:05, semis) to punch her region ticket; Ben-Israel subsequently also won twice by fall, reprising her quarterfinal pin over South Lake’s Justina Acevedo in the medal round, with a fall there in 1:52.
125 — Apopka’s Samantha Sherman (5th) kicked off a back-to-back-to-back string of Lady Blue Darter titles, thanks to first-period falls over Ocoee’s Amariyah Myrie (1:42, semis) and over South Lake’s Talia Augustin (1:47) in the final, netting Sherman her second district championship. Augustin secured a finals berth with her semifinal pin (3:57) over Dr Phillips’ Gabrielle Burgoon, with Myrie pinning Burgoon in 1:46 to take third.
130 — Apopka’s Shamari Smith (18th) won her first district title with first-period pins in the semis over Colonial’s Maya Quiroa (1:07), coming back to pin the hosts’ Bailee Spitulski in 1:33 to claim first. Spitulski reached finals after a win by fall (3:53) over Dr Phillips’ Melody Deanda, who took third with a pin in 60 seconds over Quiroa.
135 — The Lady Blue Darters’ Nehemie Gregoire (4th) completed the second half of the Gregoire sisters’ title package, with three pins over Evans (:27, quarters), Dr Phillips’ Mia Worsham (:43, semis) and over South Lake’s Grisbet Guzman (13th) in 4:19 for the championship and her first district title. Guzman advanced to finals with a third-period fall (5:05) over West Orange’s Ariana Martinez, who responded with two consi-side pins, including a medal-round fall (2:19) over Worsham for third.
140 — Dr Phillips’ Jessy Jarret rolled up two pins in just 41 seconds of mat time in her first district title after qualifying out (but not competing) at district a year ago, pinning Colonial’s Jada Castillo (:31) in the semis and Windermere’s Emily McCormack (:10) for the title win. McCormack falled the hosts’ Layla Ceballos in 4:37 to claim a finals berth, with Ceballos rallying for two pins on the back side, including a third-place fall (1:12) over Castillo.
145 — South Lake’s Zoe Williamson (7th) ran through three opponents for her second district title, with falls over Apopka (:23, quarters), Evans’ Winter Civil (2:42, semis) and in the championship over the hosts’ Melanie Saucedo in 3:18. Saucedo clinched her finals space with a semifinal pin (1:55) over Dr Phillips’ Maria Paterakis, while Civil claimed third behind two consi-side pins, including a fall over Paterakis in 3:47 during the medal round.
155 — Wekiva’s Bianna Hertilien earned two falls for the Lady Mustangs’ lone title and her first district top medal, pinning Ocoee’s Hannah Haworth (2:21) in the semis, then falling Evans’ Noel Chanoya in 54 seconds for the championship win. Chanoya secured her region spot with a semifinal pin (1:46) over Apopka’s Michelle Hernandez, who bagged two consi-side pins in taking third, including a fall in 5:07 over Haworth in the medal round.
170 — The Lady Panthers’ Amy Etienne (9th) was her team’s last individual champ, taking her second district title behind three pins in 2:27, with identical 32-second falls over Edgewater (quarters) and Olympia (semis), plus a third first-period pin (1:23) in the final over Ocoee’s Cierra Young (19th). Young had two first-period pins of her own over Colonial (:52) and Jones’ Jikayla Hutto (1:39); Hutto, for her part, would take two pins in the consis for third, reprising her quarterfinal win by fall (3:53) over Evans’ Sunjay Scott-Smith in the medal round.
190 — Apopka’s Jada Jones (2nd) max-pointed through three levels of competition, with wins against all of her fellow region qualifiers for her second district title. After a forfeit over Wekiva’s Ramiyah Steele in the quarters, Jones needed 89 seconds to pin two opponents, first Ocoee’s Alenis Cabrera (:37) in the semis, and then Dr Phillips’ Emily Riveira (11th) in 52 seconds for the finals win. Riveira falled Winter Park in 1 minute in the semis to qualify for the final, while Steele rallied from the forfeit-loss to pin both opponents in the consis, including a pin over Cabrera in 1:07 for third.
235 — Jones’ Yami Herring (12th) took two pins in 59 seconds, with falls over South Lake (:07, semis) and over Dr Phillips’ Tanyah McCain in 52 seconds for the final and her first district title. McCain earned her finals spot with a semifinal pin (2:43) over West Orange’s Thalia Rodriguez, who rallied for two second-period pins in the consis, including a rematch pin over Ocoee’s Ayanna Robinson in 2:11 for third (Rodriguez pinned Robinson in the quarters as well).
Results for this tournament, along with the other 15 district tournaments contested statewide, can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 