Local Sports
Three win medals at states
Highlands Today
Published: February 17, 2013
LAKELAND - Three county wrestlers were still alive after Saturday's first round of wrestleback action at the FHSAA state wrestling tournament in Lakeland. Two of them — Sebring's Chris DeJesus and Avon Park's Delroy Blake — were still in title contention and had guaranteed themselves a medal and a top-six finish.Published: February 17, 2013
DeJesus won his first match of the tournament at 160 pounds over Crestview's Alexander Luttrell by a score of 8-3 and followed that up with a solid 8-4 win over Mike Aroyo, of Olympic Heights, who entered the tournament with a 48-5 record.
The road to the finals won't be an easy one, as DeJesus met Lehigh's Jabari Irons in his first match Saturday. Irons entered the tournament with a listed 45-1 record and is now 47-1 on the year after his two victories on Friday.
The other two Blue Streak wrestlers — Nathan Franklin and Ty Johnson — weren't as fortunate, as Franklin wrestled well at 120 pounds but came up on the short end of two hard-fought matches, dropping a 7-4 decision to Mater Academy's Wilmer Almedarez and then losing to Bo Williams, of Venice, 2-0.
Johnson, wrestling at 182 pounds, suffered a first-fall at the hands of Derrick Doss and was unable to compete in his next match, losing by injury default.
For Avon Park, Blake picked up a pair of solid wins at 195 pounds, defeating Mark Hinchcliffe 10-3 in his opening match and followed that up with a nice 6-3 victory over Cardinal Gibbons' Ryan Thomas. His two opponents entered the tournament with a combined 61-12 record.
Blake faced Northside Christian's Alex Kruklinski in his semifinal match on Saturday. Kruklinski entered the tournament 35-2 and scored two victories by pin on Friday. Blake also has just two losses on the season.
At 113, Dre Neely guaranteed himself a spot in the top six with a 7-5 victory over Indian Rock Christian's Jarred Wolfenbarger on Saturday morning. Neely went 2-1 on Friday, winning his two matches by second-round pins.
Jose Torres won his opening match Friday but dropped his next two, which knocked him from the double-elimination tournament.
Torres scored a third-round pin against Brady Moser, of American Heritage (Plantation), and then dropped a close 6-4 decision to Tampa Bay Christian's Ty Lucas. He fell to Jamel Morris, of Cardinal Gibbons, 12-3 in an elimination match.
Johnny Baldridge went 2-1 on Friday at 126 pounds, defeating Bill Morgan (Wakulla) 12-10 in an exciting first-round match, but he dropped an 8-2 decision to Jupiter Christian's Elijah Cleary in his next match. He defeated The Bolles' Josh Calhoun 11-5 to advance to Saturday's action, where he faced Doral Academy's Christian Perez and Perez came away with a 12-3 victory in an elimination match.
At 132, Bernard Charles dropped both of his matches on Friday, falling 17-4 to Cardinal Gibbons' Anthony Vasquez, and losing 7-0 to Wakulla's Kevon White in an elimination bout.
See Monday's Highlands Today sports section for a complete wrap-up of Saturday's late action.
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