By MATMEN, Sunday, 11:05 a.m.
WEWAHITCHKA — Were the 2022-23 Panhandle wrestling season a movie title, it might have something like “The Big Schools Strike Back.”
Where last year’s District 1 event was a mixture of both small- and larger schools winning individual titles, this year, 12 of the 13 weight-class titles went to teams classified in 2A on the boys’ side.
As well, 2A teams dominated the team classification, with four of the top five, and eight of the top 10, team spots going to larger schools, led by Lincoln and its 161.5-point championship performance.
The Lady Trojans advanced nine of their 11 wrestlers automatically to Saturday’s Region 1 tournament at Matanzas, with three champions, two runners-up, two 3rds and two 4ths.
Lincoln held a 64.5-point lead over runnerup Crestview, which had two champs, one 3rd and two 4ths in scoring 97 points, 19 better than the top smaller school, North Bay Haven, which qualified out four wrestlers on 78 points (one champ, one runnerup and two 4ths).
Milton outpointed its boys’ district rivals, Choctaw, Niceville and Gulf Breeze, for fourth behind 70 points and three qualifiers (one champ, two runners-up). Choctaw, with 68, took fifth on four qualifiers (one runnerup and three 3rds), while Niceville had 67 points and four qualifiers of their own (1 of each top-4 spot). Gulf Breeze finished with 64 points in seventh, taking two titles and advancing a runnerup.
Mosley was eighth with 62 points, moving through three qualifiers (1 champ, 1 runnerup, 1 4th), while Wewahitchka, last year’s champion, was ninth on 56 points with two 3rds and one 4th. Chiles, with 40 points behind one champion and one runnerup, completed the top 10.
Florida High led the rest of the group in 11th (39 points, one 3rd and one 4th), followed by Pace (30 points, one runnerup), Tate (26 points, one champ), Ft Walton Beach (20 points, one runnerup), Rutherford (14 points, one 3rd), Wakulla (12 points, one runnerup) and Bozeman (seven points).
Additional qualifiers from the district may be added to fill region brackets as per FHSAA schematic.
A brief summary of each weight class follows:
100 — Gulf Breeze’s Camdyn Elliott (8th) won twice for her first district title, opening with a semifinal pin over Niceville’s Isabella Wall (1:24) before downing Lincoln’s Sayuri Caceres (10th), 6-2, for the bracket win. After a scoreless tie for nearly four minutes, Elliott broke through with a takedown late in the second, got out after Caceres’ lone scoring move midway through the third, adding an insurance takedown in taking the decision win. Caceres reached the final by pinning North Bay Haven’s Hayden Hauck (1:24) in the semi, while Wall claimed third with a pin in 1:17 over Hauck.
105 — The Lady Dolphins’ Helena Alcantar (6th) grabbed the second half of the finals’ back-to-back for Gulf Breeze, with first-period pins in the semis over Choctaw’s Jayda Berry (1:23) and in the final over Milton’s Alexis Brown (14th) in 1:49 for her first district title. Alcantar needed just eight seconds for a first takedown, riding for nearly the rest of the period before securing the lockdown turn. Brown falled Lincoln’s Sydney Merrill (1:51) in the top-half semi, and Berry claimed third by pinning Merrill in 1:38.
110 — Crestview’s Sigrun Metzger (4th) kicked off a run of back-to-back-to-back two-time district champ victories, with three falls to claim her second district gold, pinning Lincoln’s Stacey Martinez (:44, quarters), Florida High (:23, semis) and in 2 minutes over Choctaw’s Mary McKinney in the medal round. Metzger needed just one takedown, 11 seconds in, and had a preliminary 2-point nearfall before the second turn late led to the fall. McKinney reached the final behind a semis pin over Pace (2:00). After losing by fall to Pace in the quarters, Wewahitchka’s Kameron Easter rallied back for third behind two consi-side falls, including a third-place pin over Martinez in 3:54.
115 — Crestview’s Freydis Metzger (12th) made it back-to-back sister titles in claiming her second district event, with two pins in 36 seconds over Wewahitchka (:21, quarters) and over Mosley’s Gracelynn Janssen (:15, semis) before outlasting Gulf Breeze’s Lily Powell (13th), 4-3, in the final. Metzger had takedowns in both the first and second periods, riding Powell out in the third and not allowing a scoring move. Powell reached the final behind a semifinal pin (2:39) over Lincoln’s Amelia McKnight, who came back for third behind two consi-side bonus-point wins, including an 18-9 major over Janssen in the medal round.
120 — Tate’s Lahela Grady won her second district title, needing just 1:12 to roll through three competitors, all of whom advanced to regions along with her, as she pinned eventual 4th Charlotte Mardis of Niceville (:30, quarters), eventual 3rd Jordan Herron of Lincoln (:19, semis) and North Bay Haven’s Julia Falgout in :23 for the championship, needing just one takedown in each round. Falgout had two pins of her own over Wewahitchka (2:33, quarters) and Pace (2:54, semis), while Herron won by fall twice in the consis for third, pinning Mardis in 2:45.
125 — North Bay Haven’s Katherine Lundgren (15th) led the Lady Buccaneers’ third-place team effort with her first district championship, behind falls in the semis over Choctaw’s Alexea Lawson (3:11) and in the championship match over Chiles’ Ashley Shaw (16th). Lundgren got two takedowns from the feet, but after Shaw reversed late, Lundgren got an even later reversal in the first period, taking the pin in 2 minutes before the buzzer sounded. Shaw pinned Wewa’s Mia Beatty (2:59) in the semifinal round, with Lawson pinning Beatty in :32 to claim third.
130 — Milton’s Aireaana Gavere (8th) needed just 54 seconds to max-point through three rounds of competition, taking pins over Crestview (:20, quarters) and North Bay Haven’s Briyanna Peralta (:34, semis) before winning by forfeit in the medal round over Mosley’s Rowdy Johns for her first district title. Johns falled Wewahitchka’s Avery Forehand (5:28) to reach the final, forcing Forehand into taking two consi-side wins for third, where she pinned Peralta in 3:27.
135 — Lincoln’s Holly Sanders (11th) won her team’s first title of the day, and her second district title, pinning her way into the final with falls over Ft Walton Beach (:58, quarters) and Crestview’s Laila Archer (3:39, semis) before pushing past Pace’s Evelyn Pulskamp, 10-6, in the title match. Sanders gave up first takedown, but it wouldn’t be until midway through the second period before she was able to ultimately assert control, racking up four takedowns in the final 2:48. Pulskamp won by fall over Mosley (:25, quarters) and Florida High’s Jaylyn Middleton (1:58, semis); Archer would come back for third behind two consi-side pins, falling Middleton in :37 in the medal round.
140 — Niceville wasn’t able to compete in last year’s district tournament; this year, Alexis Krumnow gave the Eagles their first individual FHSAA girls’ title in wrestling, behind three pins over Crestview’s Savannah Joleman (2:38, quarters), Mosley (:39, semis) and in the final over Milton’s Kiiaana Gavere (3:13). Gavere had first takedown, but Krumnow asserted control in the second period, with a takedown and preliminary 3-pt nearfall before a second turn led to the fall. Gavere reached the final behind pins over Choctaw’s Shilah Borden (:46, quarters) and Lincoln (:48, semis). Both Borden and Joleman needed pins on the back to advance out, with Borden collecting two in 52 seconds, the second of those over Joleman in :41 for third.
145 — In a two-person bracket, Mosley’s Summer Barnes brought the Lady Dolphins their only title, falling Lincoln’s Cassidy Papka in 2:53. Papka had first takedown and held a 5-0 lead midway through the second, but Barnes rallied with a takedown and pin for the victory and first district title.
155 — The Lady Trojans’ Ciera Stennett (15th) took two pins after a bye into the semis, with falls over Florida High’s Claire Ajose-Adeogun (3:00) in that round and over Ft Walton Beach’s Remi Martin (19th) in 1:46 for the title, her first. Martin staved off one turn attempt, even reversing for control midway through the period, but Stennett got out and got another takedown, making the second one count. Martin advanced by pins over Choctaw (1:04) and Bozeman (1:22) to reach the final, while both Ajose-Adeogun and Crestview’s Reyannah Sturges had to take consi-side fall victories to qualify out, with Ajose-Adeogun pinning Sturges in 1:11 for third.
170 — Chiles’ Cadee Lyons (2nd) stayed unbeaten for the season in a three-person bracket, getting a bye into the final, where she falled Niceville’s Alexis Orcutt in 1 minute to claim her first district title. Orcutt needed 23 seconds to reach the fall, with a pin over Rutherford’s Hannah Santore; Santore received a bye for third.
190 — In a two-person bracket, Lincoln’s Marisa Abarca took the last contested weight class with a fall (3:08) over Wakulla’s Austin Brown, winning her first district title. Abarca had takedowns in both the first and second periods, plus a turn in the first period before getting the second for the fall.
No wrestlers weighed in at 235.
Results for this tournament, along with the other 15 district tournaments contested statewide, can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 