By MATMEN, Tuesday, 5 p.m.
3A-District 2 IBT
When & where: Wednesday at Lake Mary, 11:30 a.m. (weighin), 1 p.m. (wrestle).
Teams in the field: In addition to the host Rams, Buchholz, DeLand, Flagler Palm Coast, Forest, Seminole, University (Orange City) & West Port are in the district field.
At stake: Top four wrestlers in each of 14 weight classes will automatically advance to the 2A-Region 1 tournament at DeLand on February 24-25. Additional fifth- and sixth-place wrestlers at each weight may be selected to advance as additional region qualifiers to fill out the region bracket. Those wrestlers are selected via an FHSAA schematic.
Defending team champion: Flagler Palm Coast.
Returning individual champions: Aydan Ruano (Forest); Grady Bryant (DeLand); Kole Hannant (Flagler Palm Coast, won in 2021 also); John Hald (Flagler Palm Coast); Kason Nichols (Buchholz); Marion Smokes (DeLand); Cane Fernandez (Forest); Cavarius Liddie (Buchholz, won in 2021); Ryan Culbertson (Seminole, won in 2021).
Synopsis: We’re looking for district duals champion DeLand to double-district on Wedneesday; with several multiple-year starters in the lineup, the Volusia County Bulldogs are best poised to take the title and head into the following weekend’s region tournament at home with that momentum. Flagler Palm Coast and Buchholz should battle it out for second place and we should see a good fight between West Port and Seminole for the fourth spot. District 2 should be, once again this year, the strongest district in the region, and we’ll see more of that next week.
State-ranked wrestlers (listed by weight class in ranked order) —
113: Tyler Bracero (DeLand, 20th).
120: Aydan Ruano (Forest, 11th); Phoenix Krauth (DeLand, 12th).
126: Jedidiah Brown (Buchholz, 20th).
132: Cavarius Liddie (Buchhholz), 4th); Kole Hannant (Flagler Palm Coast, 16th).
138: John Hald (Flagler Palm Coast, 12th); Kellen Chapman (DeLand, 16th).
145: Joshua Folsom (DeLand, 16th).
152: Mathias Franz (DeLand, 14th).
160: Zane Canada (DeLand, 13th).
170: Gavin Isaacs (Lake Mary, 10th).
182: Gavin Rodriguez-Cayro (DeLand, 9th).
195: Kason Nichols (Buchholz, 3rd); Dalton Schell (Flagler Palm Coast, 8th); Michael Frederick (Lake Mary, 17th).
285: MJ Smokes (DeLand, 6th); Cane Fernandez (Forest, 8th).
Rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings/class-3a
North Florida Matmen 