TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Third Not Charming

ADVERTISEMENT

By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: January 24, 2009

BRANDON - Heading into the 25th annual Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tournament this weekend, Springstead High Head Coach Eric Swensen admitted that the other 28 teams in the field would battle for second behind host Brandon High.

After all, Brandon's legendary mat program has claimed eight straight state titles and these Eagles returned 11 state qualifiers this season.

So with second as the stated goal, Springstead went to work Friday and Saturday in this grueling test just a couple weeks before the start of the state series.

The Eagles found themselves in a duel down the stretch with Bradenton-Manatee and ultimately lost that battle finishing third with 238 points behind Brandon (358.5) and Manatee (254).

"We're disappointed, really disappointed," Swensen said. "We looked real sloppy, whatever the case may be. I'm not going to make excuses.

"We've been going real hard for four weeks and we finally hit where maybe the tank is on empty."

Bliss-ful finish

Three Eagles reached the championship finals of their respective weight classes – Richie Bliss (103), Nick Soto (125) and Ken Cox (215).

The sophomore Bliss, who had pins of 31 and 35 seconds to go along with another pin and a major decision leading up to the finals, folded Brandon's Keith LeFevre in 1:17 to claim his finest gold medal to date.

"This was the hardest tournament I've ever won," Bliss said. "This one I had to step up, beat a Brandon kid, beat everybody.

"I just had to work hard in practice. Swensen usually kicked me out of practice but I got through it. I worked hard the last week and this is what I was waiting for."

Going against LeFevre in his home gym, Bliss knew he couldn't let him gain momentum.

"I wasn't even thinking about the crowd," Bliss said. "There are more Brandon kids than anyone. I thought if he gets two on me, this crowd is going be loud for him. I said no, he's not doing it. I went out and pinned him."

Conversely, Soto did not fair as well in a key final match versus Manatee's Jacob Gregory, dropping a 10-4 decision after going 4-0 with two pins.

With second place in the team standings already decided, Cox lost to Ronnie Daniels of Manatee in their final, 3-2. Like Soto, Cox had two pins in taking his four prior matches.

Seven other Eagle grapplers placed in the top six: Sean Redman (112), Cody Ross (119), Colton Zimmerman (135), Shawn Landgraff (145), Thad Klenovich (160), Jessey Lorentsen (171) and Scott Wern (189).

Landgraff, Lorentsen and Wern each captured their consolation matches to finish third. Landgraff pinned Central's Shaun Cadoret in 5:37 and Lorentsen downed Mike Gazda of Bloomingdale by a 9-4 nod.

Wern won by injury default over Travis Vollick of Plant City. Klenovich claimed the fifth-place match in his weight class, by a 14-10 decision against Bayshore's Nathan Meschelle.

Ross and Zimmerman, however, lost their consolation bouts to take fourth. Redman dropped his fifth-place contest to come in sixth.

Springstead now has two weeks to prepare for districts. A dual match with Hernando this coming week has been called off by both teams because of injury and illness.

"We've just got to reload," Swensen said. "We've got to figure out how to get more gas in the tank. We'll rest up a little bit, maybe give them a couple days off and go right back to work.

"Sometimes being beaten can be a good thing. It puts things in perspective."

Central limps forward

Missing two of its best grapplers due to injury -- Vince Ramirez (shoulder) and Danny May (back) -- Central limped to a 19th-place showing with 49.5 team points.

The Bears, who went 17-22 over the two days, had two wrestlers reach the consolation finals, Kenny Supple and Cadoret.

Supple, competing at 130, defeated Jesuit's Anthony Cimino in the fifth-place match, 6-4. Cadoret fell to Landgraff at 145 to finish fourth.

"I'm happy with our performance," Central Head Coach Roy Reyes said. "We're pretty banged up. We came out injury-free. We matched our success of last year when we had two medalists. We were without two of our big guns, which I would have expected to medal here.

"For Shaun and Kenny to walk out with medals from one of the toughest tournaments in the state, I think that's an accomplishment."

Reyes also noted the improvements of Justin Lane, who went 2-2 with two pins at 135, and Daniel Merced, 1-2 with a pin at 140. He hopes to have his full lineup intact come districts.

"We're too banged up from the last couple of weeks," Reyes said. "We really didn't have a choice but to not have (Ramirez and May) wrestle this weekend.

"We're saving them for the meets that matter. You can win all the tournaments in the regular season, if you don't get it done in districts, regionals and states, nobody remembers you."

Final Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tournament Team Standings
PL Team PTS
1. Brandon (BDN) 358.5
2. Bradenton-Manatee (MAN) 254.0
3. Springstead (SPG) 238.0
4. Bloomingdale (BMD) 167.5
5. Tampa-Robinson (ROB) 145.0
6. Tampa-Alonso (ALN) 125.0
7. Gainesville (GNV) 123.0
8. Tallahassee-Lincoln (LIN) 120.0
9. St. Cloud (STC) 95.0
10. Tampa-Jesuit (JES) 90.0
11. Sarasota (SAR) 89.5
12. Naples-Baron Collier (BC) 85.0
12. Plant City (PC) 85.0
14. Tampa-Wharton (WHA) 74.5
15. Bradenton-Bayshore (BAY) 74.0
15. Tampa-Jefferson (JEF) 74.0
17. Liberty (LIB) 72.5
18. Seffner-Armwood (ARM) 58.5
19. Central (CEN) 49.5
20. Cape Coral (CC) 46.0
21. Tampa-Plant (PLA) 44.5
22. East Bay (EB) 43.0
23. Pasco (PAS) 29.5
24. Tampa-Chamberlain (CHA) 27.0
25. Tampa Prep (TP) 27.0
26. Tampa-Middleton (MID) 24.0
27. Tampa-King (KNG) 22.0
28. Hillsborough (HIL) 13.5
29. Wesley Chapel (WC) 10.5

Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tournament Finals Results
103 - Bliss (SPG) pin LeFevre (BDN), 1:17
112 - Renkey (BDN) maj. dec. Gray (ARM), 14-5
119 - Bruno (BDN) maj. dec. Ballard (MAN), 15-4
125 - Gregory (MAN) dec. Soto (SPG), 10-4
130 - Glass (BDN) maj. dec. Stewart (MAN), 10-2
135 - Grajales (BDN) pin Boyer (ROB), 4:41
140 - Timothy (BDN) maj. dec. Montero (BMD), 10-1
145 - Cozart (BDN) dec. Dykes (MAN), 11-5
152 - Figaro (BDN) dec. Riley (MAN), 7-1
160 - Figari (BMD) dec. Koziel (BDN), 4-0
171 - Harmer (GNV) maj. dec. Berridge (BDN), 12-1
189 - Ivy (ALN) dec. Ettore (BDN), 4-1
215 - Daniels (MAN) dec. Cox (SPG), 3-2
285 - Benitez (ROB) dec. Posada (PLA), 9-3

Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tournament Consolation Finals Results
103 - Conner (BMD) dec. Popp (JES), 8-6 (OT)
112 - Boudreau (JES) maj. dec. Fulk (MAN), 10-2
119 - Herrera (SAR) dec. Ross (SPG), 5-1
125 - Brown (SAR) maj. dec. Betancourt (LIB), 12-1
130 - Orzech (BAY) dec. Rodriguez (WHA), 8-3
135 - Doran (MAN) pin Zimmerman (SPG), 4:45
140 - Harris (SC) inj. default Brooks (GNV)
145 - Landgraff (SPG) pin Cadoret (CEN), 5:37
152 - Carter (BC) dec. Hawthorne (ROB), 7-5
160 - Cousins (SC) pin Coleman (LIN), 4:50
171 - Lorentsen (SPG) dec. Gazda (BMD), 9-4
189 - Wern (SPG) inj. default Vollick (PC)
215 - Perez (LIB) dec. Douglas (BMD), 11-9
285 - Chattin (SC) dec. Hoelzer (BDN), 3-2

Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tournament Outstanding Lightweight Wrestler Award
Eric Gajales, Brandon

Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tournament Outstanding Heavyweight Wrestler Award
Chris Figari, Bloomingdale

Springstead at Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tourney Results
WGT Name W L Pins Pl
103 Bliss, Richie 5 0 4 1st
112 Redman, Sean 4 3 3 6th
119 Ross, Cody 4 2 2 4th
125 Soto, Nick 4 1 2 2nd
130 Urso, Anthony 3 2 1 -
135 Zimmerman, Colton 4 2 2 4th
140 Colon, Sam 2 2 2 -
145 Landgraff, Shawn 5 1 3 3rd
152 Ellerbee, Thomas 1 2 0 -
160 Klenovich, Thad 5 2 2 5th
171 Lorentsen, Jessey 5 1 2 3rd
189 Wern, Scott 6 1 3 3rd
215 Cox, Ken 4 1 2 2nd
TOTALS 52 20 28

Central at Tony Ippolito Wrestling Tourney Results
WGT Name W L Pins Pl
119 Monsegur, Robbie 0 2 0 -
125 Snell, Wayne 3 2 2 -
130 Supple, Kenny 5 2 1 5th
135 Lane, Justin 2 2 2 -
140 Merced, Daniel 1 2 1 -
145 Cadoret, Shaun 5 2 0 4th
152 Gehrke, Zach 0 2 0 -
160 Redford, Matt 0 2 0 -
171 Martin, Zach 1 2 1 -
189 Nieves, P.R. 0 2 0 -
285 Scott, Patrick 0 2 0 -
TOTALS 17 22 7

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at 352-544-5288 or cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT