Eight win mat titles
Unbeaten Mariner senior Basil Minto plowed his way through the 171-pound class Saturday in the District 2A-11 wrestling meet at Palmetto.
Minto won two matches by pin and took the championship match 7-2. Junior Anderson Gokool also claimed a championship in the 140-pound class by beating the Nos. 1 and 2 seeded wrestlers.
In all, seven Tritons are headed to the Region 2A-3 Meet Friday and Saturday at Charlotte High. Four wrestlers each from Ida Baker and Cape Coral High qualified for the regional meet as well.
The top four wrestlers in each weight division at regionals advance to the State Meet Feb. 18-19 in Lakeland.
“This is a meat grinder regional,” said Tritons coach Dave Phillips. “Teams from Tampa and Largo will be there as well as from this area like Riverdale. It probably is the toughest regional in the state and we are looking forward to the competition.”
Brandon Gadad (112) and Bobby Nuccio (145) of Ida Baker earned division championships Saturday along with Cape heavyweight Donnie Dupont.
Vinnie Mascarelli (103) and Brett Hurt (145) were division runners-up for the Tritons, whose other qualifiers are Nick Maynard (160), Chip Curtis (135) and Hunter Schawalder (152).
“We are going to step up the practices working on technique,” added Phillips. “We want to get these guys to their peak performance.”
In just their third season of varsity competition, the Island Coast Gators claimed the District A-11 team title and qualified 12 wrestlers for the regional meet.
“It’s practice as normal this week,” said Gators coach Brian Jones. “It’s served us well to this point so we won’t change a thing. We’ll work on the small things that we did wrong.”
Eight Gators wrestlers made the championship match and three of those won the division title, including Kalvyn Luzarraga at 140 pounds, Jason Hessler at 152 and Marcos Canino at 189.
The five silver medalists are Justin Irizarry (119), Cody Colle (125), Bud Kelly (135), Chris Apostol (145) and Courtney Fuller (160).
The Gators’ regional meet is at Bradenton Southeast.