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Spiegel Storms To State

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Sebring senior Shaanan Spiegel (top) is moments from pinning Space Coast’s Gage Mullins during the first day of Class 1A-Region 2 tournament.

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: February 11, 2008

AVON PARK –– After winning the 152-pound weight class at the Class 1A-Region 2 wrestling meet on Saturday, Sebring senior Shaanan Spiegel wasn't overly excited.

The talented Blue Streak grappler was satisfied with his performance, but with this being his third and final trip to the state meet, winning an elusive state title was foremost in his thoughts.

"It feels good to win," said Spiegel. "I wrestled pretty well except for a couple of small errors. "I'm satisfied because this is my second consecutive regional championship, but my goal is to win a gold medal at state.

"I didn't wrestle very well at state the last two years and I'm determined to do better, because this is my last shot."

The two-day regional meet was held at South Florida Community College and it attracted 34 teams, with the top four wrestlers from each weight class advancing on to the state meet, which begins on Thursday in Lakeland.

Spiegel, who improved to 43-1 on the season, defeated Lecanto's Tomas Ducca 18-5 in the 152-pound final.

The Blue Streak athlete pinned Jimmy Huang from North Coast and Gage Mullins from Space Coast in his first two bouts on Friday and then edged Kevin Drawdy of Crystal River 11-8 in Saturday's semifinals.

Avon Park junior James Bland won the 160-pound weight class in impressive fashion by pinning Hudson's Antonio Germano to earn his second consecutive trip to state.

"This is so sweet it's like candy," said Bland. "I wrestled Germano last year and I knew he would be tough, but I kept working on him with one move after another and I was able to finish him off.

"I know the competition is going to be tough at state, but I want to win a gold medal and I'm going to do everything I can to do that."

Avon Park junior Kemosi Hatten qualified for state with a third-place finish in the 171-pound weight class.

Hatten pinned Joseph Atwell of Pasco and beat Joe Conway of Citrus on Friday, and then lost to Hudson's Devinlee Brown in Saturday's semifinals.

Hatten bounced back to defeat Carlos Londono of Space Coast on Saturday 13-3 to finish third.

"James came out and dominated his match against a three-time state qualifier and he has a lot of momentum heading into state," said Avon Park co-coach Ed Brown. "Kemosi had a tough draw and made a couple of strategic mistakes.

"But he is moving on to state and he learned a lot from this weekend."

Avon Park freshman Greg Gentry went 1-2 at 103 pounds, Josh Sala went 0-2 at 130, Charles Hubbard finished fifth at 145 and Omar Torres posted a 1-2 record at 152.

Red Devil Isuel Guzman went 1-2 at 189, Troy Knight posted a 2-2 mark at 215 and Jace Grimmett went 1-2 at heavyweight.

"I think we gained an awful lot of experience this weekend," said Brown. "The younger kids got a chance to see first-hand what it takes to succeed at this level.

"I'm proud of all the kids because they wrestled hard against top wrestlers."

Sebring's Evan Hunter went 1-2 at 140 pounds and Andrew Crump, who competed at 215, won his first two matches on Friday before losing two matches on Saturday to miss qualifying for state.

Citrus won the regional team title with 143 points, Hernando placed second with 135, Avon Park finished ninth with 64.50 and Sebring came in 16th with 36.

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