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River Ridge Wrestlers Make Run Toward Top

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2008

SPRING HILL - As wrestlers, coaches and parents milled around the head table and lone mat inside the Springstead gym, River Ridge coach Russ Schenk beamed with a sense of accomplishment.

Five of his wrestlers finished in the top four of the Springstead Invitational and despite not scoring any additional points during the finals and matches for third/fourth place, the Royal Knights ended with a solid second-place finish in the tournament behind Springstead.

Last season River Ridge finished 15th with a total of 53 points.

"It just shows the strength of the team to finish second," said Schenk, in the first season of his second stint with River Ridge. "All of the kids except for one scored points toward our total team score. The kids are really working hard and it's starting to show up."

Host Springstead won the tournament, scoring 216.5 points, followed by River Ridge (145), Hernando (131), Chamberlain (103.5) and Mitchell (98).

Pasco (90.5) was sixth followed by Hudson (seventh, 90), Gulf (ninth, 86.5), Ridgewood (14th, 58), Zephyrhills (17th, 39), Wesley Chapel (18th, 25) and Land O' Lakes (20th, 20).

The Royal Knights also had the highest number of placers (five) among the nine Pasco County schools participating in the tournament.

"It's just drilling technique," Schenk said. "We started working hard, they're starting to feel comfortable on the mat, they're starting to believe that they're just as good as anybody stepping out on the mat against them.

"Like I said before, this is such a mental game. You know what not to do, now you just have to go out there and have faith in yourself and have faith in your training."

Tyler Fleming (119), Dennis Saunders (125) and Landon Vannata (160) finished second for River Ridge, while Sean Hitchcock (140) and Anthony Colello (285) finished fourth.

Other Pasco County wrestlers taking titles in the tournament were Josh Holding (130, Gulf), Allyn Williamson (135, Ridgewood), Devon Brown (171, Hudson) and Travis Tindell (285, Hudson).

The tournament suffered a major scare when Mitchell wrestler Anthony Ayers was thrown to the mat during his 112-pound bout for third place against Crystal River's Brandon Jones.

Ayers was thrown earlier in the match and landed on his neck, causing a brief injury timeout. Later in the match, Jones threw Ayers again, this time the Mustangs wrestler landed on his head, neck and shoulder, causing damage to his back, according to Mitchell coach John Stanjeski.

The match was halted and Jones was disqualified for what officials deemed an illegal throw. Ayers, who remained on the mat practically motionless for at least 10 minutes, was taken to a Spring Hill Regional Hospital for precautionary measures.

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