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New Name, But The Same Result

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By ADAM ADKINS

aadkins@tampatrib.com

Published: December 14, 2008

BRANDON - The tournament may have had a new name, but Brandon still dominated it just the same.

Ryan Renkey (112 pounds), Rossi Bruno (119), Tyler Liberatore (125), Eric Grajales (135), Kevin Timothy (140), Joe Cozart (145), Kyle Koziel (160) and Zaq Berridge (189) each finished 9-0 to win their respective weight class to help the Eagles run away with the team title at the first Jim Graves Invitational, formerly known as the Sunshine Invitational. Brandon mustered 633 points in the two-day event, well clear of Alabama's Vestavia Hills (482).

"There was some tough competition here," Timothy said. "Some of our younger guys really stepped it up and showed that practicing in our wrestling room has really increased their capabilities on the wrestling mat."

While many of Brandon's younger wrestlers performed well throughout the event, it was an Eagles veteran who ended up stealing the show in the end. Cozart, a two-time state champ, posted an 8-7 victory over Vestavia Hills' Marty Carlson, a reigning Alabama state champion, in his final match of the night to help him earn the tournament's most outstanding wrestler award. It was one of 12 victories for the Eagles in 14 matches against Vestavia Hills, a perennial power in Alabama, in the final round of wrestling Saturday.

"That was close," Brandon coach Russ Cozart said of his son's match. "Joe came from behind. He gave up the first takedown and it was an uphill battle the whole way, but he held it together and outworked the guy at the end."

Brandon placed all 14 wrestlers in the top five of their respective weight class. In addition to the Eagles' eight champions, Keith Lefevre (103), Wally Figaro (152), Mike Ettore (171), Lorenzo Martinez (215) each took second, Clark Glass (130) was third and John Harrell (285) fifth.

Wharton was the next highest county finisher in the 10-team tournament, taking fifth. Robert DeVault (112) and Basim Saed (145) each finished fourth for the Wildcats, while Daniel Rodriguez (130), Jonathan Vasquez (135) and Conrad Jones (215) each placed fifth.

Newsome got a third-place finish from Garrett Fuglar (189), fourth-place finishes from Jake Drake (140) and Shawn Shores (215), and fifth-place finishes from Nick Rogers (125) and Matt Hinton (145) to place sixth as a team.

Gaither, led by 189-pound runner-up Aaron Little and fifth-place finishers Michael Drafeau (112) and Zaman Abbas (119), was seventh.

Chamberlain, which had four wrestlers - Audrick Barr (103), A.J. Lassiter (119), Roger Phillips (125), Brian Collera (171) - place fourth, tied Kathleen for ninth.

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