By MATMEN, Thursday, 5 p.m.
3A-District 1 IBT
When & where: Friday at Fletcher, 8 a.m. (weighin), 9:30 a.m. (wrestle).
Teams in the field: In addition to the host Senators, Atlantic Coast, Bartram Trail, Creekside, First Coast, Mandarin, Nease and Sandalwood 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: None; last year’s champion, Oakleaf, was reclassified to 2A.
Returning individual champions: Ethan Vugman (Bartram Trail, won in 2020 & 2021 also), Preston Pena (Bartram Trail), Jacob Lutz (Nease), John McNames (Bartram Trail), Jaelen Simmons (Mandarin); Landon Locantora (Fletcher)*, Cole O’Brien (Fletcher)*, Josh Daltro (Fletcher, won in 2021 also)*, Joseph Kohlhaas (Fletcher)*, Toby Matson (Fletcher)* (asterisk reflects 2A-District 3 title wins).
Synopsis: All three of the top teams have had moments where they look like a top-three team for next week’s region tournament, and all three teams have had — and they’d be the first to admit — moments where they might struggle to make the top eight. Creekside wins if their upper weights come close to matching their lowers, Bartram wins if the middle of the lineup can hold things together, and Fletcher wins if a couple of their second-tier guys can step up to the level of their elite kids. Under any or none of these scenarios, I think Nease is probably the team that finishes fourth. They’ve proven themselves capable of sneaking even a top-3 team finish.
State-ranked wrestlers (listed by weight class in ranked order) —
106: Alexavier Panganiban (Creekside, 14th).
113: Carmen DiBella (Bartram Trail, 12th).
126: Ethan Vugman (Bartram Trail, 1st).
132: Cole O’Brien (Fletcher, 5th).
138: Parker Stamschror (Nease, 13th); Conner Wright (Creekside, 15th).
152: Preston Pena (Bartram Trail, 12th).
160: Jacob Lutz (Nease, 9th); Josh Daltro (Fletcher, 10th).
170: Alan Rivera (Nease, 17th).
182: John McNames (Bartram Trail, 8th); Malachi Mista (Sandalwood, 14th).
195: Duffy Mista (Sandalwood, 9th).
220: Shane Armstrong (Bartram Trail, 6th); Jaelen Simmons (Mandarin, 13th); Eli Pagan (Creekside, 19th).
285: Toby Matson (Fletcher, 9th); Cole Anderson (Creekside, 18th).
Rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings/class-3a
North Florida Matmen 