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Hernando Today

Bears prep for Oviedo

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By MARTY MILLER Hernando Today correspondent

Published: December 28, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - For Central High wrestling Coach Rey Reyes, this weekend's Ed Goodpaster Invitational turned out to be a tune-up session for his team.

The reason is that next weekend, the Bears will compete in one of the finest wrestling tournaments in the country as they will be in the 30-team Oviedo Ironman Tournament.

To get ready for that tournament, Reyes had his team in this past weekend's tournament in Land O' Lakes, although the Bears were without their best wrestler as Vince Ramirez missed the event with a sore shoulder.

But with just 10 wrestlers for the 14 weight classes, the Bears still finished ninth and had Nathan Brazeau, Daniel May and Wayne Snell reach the top-four podium spots.
Brazeau sets pace Brazeau made the finals at 215 pounds but lost 12-2 to Eric Stroud of Pasco.

"I wasn't thinking," said Brazeau. "I didn't keep my elbows in and I kind of got sloppy."

Snell earned a third-place finish at the meet as he beat Austin Prince of Dunedin 9-3 while May beat Aaron Zuckley of Citrus 3-1 for the other third-place finish for the Bears.

"We've had people get places in other meets, but this is the most people we've had on the podium of any meet this year," said Reyes. "We had several guys fall just short of being medalist like Antonio Zayas, John Schinkel and Shaun Cadoret. I think it was our best team effort to date."

Central will next move way up in class as it is in the 30-team Oviedo Ironman Tournament. The Ironman, which features one day of dual meets and a one-day individual meet, is no doubt the best tournament Reyes or his team has ever been in as state champions from five different states are entered.

"My team needs to see what the elite of the country bring to the table," admired Reyes. "This is an opportunity to swim in deeper water."

While Reyes says he understands people questioning why he would put his team into such a tough tournament, the Central coach believes it will help them in the long run.

"Some of the best teams in the nation will be there," he added. "If you're not around that or shy away from it, you'll never reach that level.

"My program is like a kid in the hallway when a fight breaks out between someone and a bully. Some people run away but we're going to jump right into the fight.

"You can sit back and read about it on the Internet," Reyes said. "Or jump in and experience."
Brazeau is one of Reyes' wrestlers that is looking forward to the Oviedo tournament.

"Oh yeah, we want to go there so we can get better as a team and as a wrestler," said Brazeau.

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