Local Sports

Blue Streaks sending 8 to regionals

Photos

Highlands Today
Published: February 2, 2013

The Sebring Blue Streaks had a solid day at the Class 2A-District 6 wrestling tournament in Lakeland Kathleen's Willie Speed Gymnasium on Thursday.

The Blue Streaks placed third in the seven team meet and advanced eight wrestlers to next week's regional meet in St. Cloud.

"We finished third which was good, but I was hoping for a district runner-up," said Sebring fifth-year wrestling coach Josh Miller. "I was a little disappointed there, but third out of seven is pretty good and it's a long ways from where we came."

Ty Johnson gave the Blue Streaks their lone district title when he scored a second-round pin of Auburndale's Kailin Boatfield with 54 seconds remaining. The victory improved Johnson to 28-10 on the year.

"Ty had a really solid match," Miller said.

Chris DeJesus — a returning state qualifier — placed second at 160 pounds, coming up just short in a 4-3 loss to Auburndale's Glauberson Cojuste. DeJesus is 31-4 on the season.

"Chris lost a nail-biter," Miller said. "He had two really horrible calls that I was not happy with whatsoever."

Nathan Franklin had a solid second-place finish at 120 pounds, dropping a 15-7 decision to Lake Gibson's Sa'Derian Perry in the finals. Franklin is now 31-10 on the season.

Freshman Brendan Doty placed third at 106 pounds, winning the third-place match with a late second-round pin over Kathleen's Geness Kennedy. Doty is now 27-10 on the year.

Luis Sanchez placed third in the 285-pound heavyweight division, winning the third-place bout with a first-round pin of Winter Haven's Romello Sekura just 27 seconds into the match. Sanchez improved to 25-10 on the season with the victory.

Jirado Bautista placed fourth at 126 pounds to advance to regionals and is now 11-11 on the season.

Casey Ricker placed fourth at 152 pounds after suffering a second-round loss at the hands of Auburndale's Logan McCafferty in the third-place match. Ricker is now 23-12 on the season.

Matt Juve also will move forward to regionals, as he placed fourth at 170 pounds after dropping a 10-2 decision to Bartow's Aver Tolley in the third-place match. Juve is now 23-14 on the season.

Lake Gibson captured its fourth consecutive district title with 225.5 points, while Auburndale was second with 200.5 points. The Blue Streaks tallied 116 points, with Winter Haven taking fourth with 97 points.

Lake Gibson senior Chase Krutzky won his fourth district title at 145 pounds and was one of nine Braves to capture district championships.

The regional tournament will begin on Friday and will be a two-day event. District champions will face the fourth-place wrestler from another district in the opening match, while second-and third-place finishers from different districts will be matched-up against each other in their opening bouts.

Miller has consistently said the region is probably the toughest in the state, but he believes his wrestlers will be up to the challenge and give a good accounting.

"Realistically three or four have a good shot to move to state," he said.

The top four finishers from each regional tournament will advance to the state tournament, which will begin on Friday, Feb. 15, at the Lakeland Center.

sports@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5841