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Durant Wrestlers Put Up Points

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By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: March 4, 2009

PLANT CITY - The Durant High wrestling team went up at some point during the season against nine of the state's overall top 10 squads. That tough schedule helped result in the second-best state performance in school history.

T.J. Davis and Nick Hadick both reached the semifinals of the Class 3A wrestling meet, which concluded Feb. 21 in Lakeland. Durant's team point total of 22 was surpassed only by the output of the 2006 Cougars.

"It was brutally tough, our schedule," Durant head coach Dennis Kitko said. "But because of it, our guys knew what to expect. They had gone up against state-championship type wrestlers all season."

Davis was a good example. His regular season record was 35-9, which gave him the 11th most losses out of the 16 wrestlers in his 145-pound bracket. Rarely does a third-place regional finisher advance to the semifinals, but Davis did so first by defeating Apopka senior Keith Polson, then Cypress Bay's Alex Dahl.

In the semifinals Davis ran into eventual champ Shakendrick Sanders of South Dade, who pinned all of his opponents in Lakeland and finished with a 52-1 record for the season. After that Davis lost two close matches to settle for a sixth-place finish.

"T.J. learned a lot," Kitko said. "He got caught in a couple of moves in those consolation matches. Both were very close."

Kitko was adamant on how he feels Davis can do if he continues to improve next year, which will be his senior season: "If he continues to work hard, I'd be surprised if he doesn't win state next year. I really would."

Hadick closed out his senior campaign with a fourth-place finish in the state's heavyweight class. Like Davis, Hadick won his first two matches, but his semifinal match was extremely close. After that defeat Hadick went 1-1 to finish in fourth.

His wins were over Alexander Wethy from Columbus High in Miami, Donovan Creek of Timber Creek (who was 41-1 before losing to Hadick) and Joseph McNamara of Cypress Bay.

The semifinal defeat came on a pin with just 20 seconds left in a 2-2 match against Lakeland's Brenton Clayton, who lost in the finals to undefeated Henry Chirino of American High in Hialeah.

"Nick wrestled great all weekend. He took care of two good opponents then the ones he lost were close," Kitko said.

Titus Horner also reached the state meet for Durant. He went 0-2 in the 171-pound bracket.

Durant's 2006 team, led by individual state champion Adam Doback, was the only other Cougars squad to land two wrestlers in the state semis.

Several other Cougars came up just short of qualifying for state. In an ultra competitive Region 2 tournament, held Feb. 13-14 at Royal Palm Beach High School, a top-four finish was required. Alex Hamm (112 pounds) won his first two matches but then lost to Kissimmee Osceola's Tim Locksmith 2-0.

Plant City's returning state qualifier, Travis Vollick, won his district tourney but lost the semifinal in the regional tournament, then fell to Riverview's Rafael Rivera in a match that decided who would advance to state.

Kissimmee Osceola won the 3A state title, with Bloomingdale (10th place) doing the best of any Tampa Bay area school. Brandon (2A) and Riverdale (1A) took the other team titles.

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