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Hernando Today

Four Real...Springstead Gobbles Up Fourth Straight District Crown

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: February 8, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - No, the writer's strike hasn't reached the wrestling ranks. It just seemed like the same old script Saturday at the Ridgewood High gym.

Springstead High added another chapter to its legacy, capturing its fourth straight district championship and 22nd all-time at the Class 2A, District 5 Tournament.

The Eagles placed 10 of their 14 grapplers in the championship finals and advanced 13 to regionals via a top four finish, tallying 237 team points. Dunedin High (165) finished a distant second.

"It's a good team thing," Springstead Head Coach Eric Swensen said. "We have a lot of individual goals, having state champs, state placers. But we use districts as a team event. It's the culmination of the team season. It's nice when it comes together at the end."

Usual suspects

For the most part, the names remained the same for Springstead's regional qualifiers, who will participate in the Class 2A, Region II meet this Saturday at Kissimmee-Poinciana High.

Out of the 13, nine (Dustin Soto, Schuyler Swanton, Skylar Huff, C.J. Cook, Steve Bliss, Thad Klenovich, Scott Wern, Cesar Acosta and Carlos Ramirez) made it out districts last season.

Sean Hughes, Thomas Ellerbee, Andrew Herr and Luis Delgado join them this time around.

Swanton, a two-time defending district champion and defending state champ at 103, captured the 112-pound crown via a 14-6 major decision over the formidable Dean Stupar of host Ridgewood.

After taking second in the state as a sophomore and capturing gold as a junior, the senior began this season dealing with an injured collarbone.

After taking the Outstanding Wrestler award at the vaunted Ippolito Tournament at Brandon High two weeks earlier, he appears back in top form.

"I think I wrestled pretty good. I feel good," Swanton said. "I could always wrestle better but I felt good.

"I feel like I'm back to 100 percent. When I really felt back to 100 percent was at Ippolito. I started putting everything together again."

Swanton's victory was preceded by Dustin Soto downing River Ridge High's Andrew Agazarm via pin in 1:05 at 103, and was followed by Skylar Huff taking out River Ridge's Tyler Fleming, 5-3, to repeat as the 119 district champion.

Cook, a three-time state qualifier, became a rare four-time district champ when he defeated Central High's Ken Supple in the 125 final by a score of 7-1.

"It kind of means a lot. It's my senior year. I'm glad I won it my last year," Cook said. "I wish I ended it better than I did, but he wrestled tough and that's how it came out.

"I've got higher goals than districts. I want to place (at states) but I'm taking it one match at a time."

Bliss won at 130, with a pin of Dunedin's Nick King in 1:41. This marks his fourth trip to regionals, and like Cook he has the opportunity to become a four-time state qualifier.

Klenovich, a fourth-place finisher the past two years in districts, finally made the championship final at 152 and defeated John Cannizzaro of Dunedin, 14-6.

At 171, Wern scored two points at the last second to record a 9-7 triumph over Dunedin's Danny Miller, in the most thrilling final of the day. That marked the junior's initial district title.

"District champ, it's all so big, so new," Wern said. "I'm not really used to winning that much. It's a lot of hard work and the coaches are great.

"He (Miller) shot in on me, I sprawled. I saw out of the corner of my eye 10 seconds left. I heard coach screaming. I thought I got to do this, I got to do this. I kept sprawling back as hard as I could to stay in it."

Cesar Acosta (189) registered a 6-2 triumph over Central's Danny May, and Carlos Ramirez (285) won 6-4 versus South Lake's William Allen to round out the Eagle champs.

Only Ellerbee (145) failed to take his final, getting pinned by Jonte Graham of Dunedin in 1:15.

Hughes (140) and Delgado (215) both won their consolation finals to come in third, while the freshman Herr (160) came in fourth after losing in the same round.

Delgado's and Herr's performances were particularly impressive because neither had wrestled on the varsity level all season.

"Now it's about getting guys to states," Swensen said. "There are four spots for all the weight classes (to qualify for states) and it's about getting those spots. For our seniors, it's about going for regional titles."

Brazeau wins for Bears

Central High had a solid day, finishing fourth with 117 points while pushing nine through to regionals. Ken Supple, Vince Ramirez, May and Nathan Brazeau all made the championship finals.

Ramirez, a highly-touted sophomore, continued to struggle with an injured shoulder. He had to pull out of his 135-pound title match with Ridgewood's Allyn Williamson.

"His shoulder is still not 100 percent," Central Head Coach Roy Reyes said. "We've been lying low, giving it time to heal, but it's still not 100 percent. He felt something pop again. We're going to have an MRI and take it from there.

"It's a shame. I think he can compete for a state title this year. But we've got to be smart for the next few years."

However, Brazeau made sure the Bears left with at least one gold medal, taking a 5-3 nod over Gideon Levy of Dunedin at 215.

"It was awesome. This is the first time I've ever won a tournament this whole year," Brazeau said. "I worked hard all year. I've been progressing. I conditioned hard this week. I'm just way more confident in my shoots.

"I'm just psyched right now. I'm ready to go to regionals and go to states."

Anto Vega (103), Wayne Snell (119), Antonio Zayas (130), Shaun Cadoret (145) and Mike Miller (152) all reached the consolation finals, with Snell, Zayas and Cadoret coming out on top.

"You want every kid you take to districts to compete in regionals," Reyes said. "So it's bittersweet for the few guys we lost.

"But we're ecstatic as a program. All the hard work, training, kids buying into it, it's paying off. We're making steps in the right direction."

Final Class 2A, District 5 Team Standings
PL Team PTS
1. Springstead (SPG) 237.0
2. Dunedin (DUN) 165.0
3. River Ridge (RR) 146.0
4. Central (CEN) 117.0
5. Ridgewood (RW) 56.0
6. Land O' Lakes (LOL) 46.0
7. South Lake (SL) 36.0
8. Wesley Chapel (WC) 18.5
9. Tarpon Springs (TS) 5.0
 
Class 2A, District 5 Individual Finals Results
103 - Soto (SPG) pin Agazarm (RR), 1:05
112 - Swanton (SPG) maj. dec. Stupar (RW), 14-6
119 - Huff (SPG) dec. Fleming (RR), 5-3
125 - Cook (SPG) dec. K. Supple (CEN), 7-1
130 - Bliss (SPG) maj. dec. King (DUN), 13-3
135 - Williamson (RW) inj. default Ramirez (CEN)
140 - Hitchcock (RR) dec. Posyton (DUN), 11-7
145 - Graham (DUN) pin Ellerbee (SPG), 1:15
152 - Klenovich (SPG) maj. dec. Cannizzaro (DUN), 14-6
160 - Talley (DUN) maj. dec. Vannata (RR), 12-0
171 - Wern (SPG) dec. Miller (DUN), 9-7
189 - Acosta (SPG) dec. May (CEN), 6-2
215 - Brazeau (CEN) dec. Levy (DUN), 5-3
285 - Ramirez (SPG) dec. Allen (SL), 6-4
 
Class 2A, District 5 Individual Consolation Finals Results
103 - Yancey (SL) pin Vega (CEN), 2:17
112 - Biondo (RR) dec. McKay (LOL), 6-2
119 - Snell (CEN) maj. dec. Prince (DUN), 11-2
125 - Perri (RR) dec. Brady (DUN), 4-2
130 - Zayas (CEN) maj. dec. Saunders (RR), 15-5
135 - Scalise (LOL) dec. Herring (DUN), 7-0
140 - Hughes (SPG) pin Vazquez (RW), 3:45
145 - Cadoret (CEN) inj. default Duke (SL)
152 - Custodio (RR) pin Miller (CEN), 3:38
160 - Henderson (WC) tech. fall Herr (SPG), 15-0
171 - Horning (RR) pin Hengoed (LOL), 2:59
189 - Zeedyk (DUN) pin Embry (LOL), 1:48
215 - Delgado (SPG) pin Gomez (LOL), 1:57
285 - Colello (RR) pin McCarthy (RW), 0:59
 
Springstead's Class 2A, District 5 Individual Results
Wgt Name W L Pins Pl
103 Soto, Dustin 2 0 2 1st
112 Swanton, Schuylar 3 0 2 1st
119 Huff, Skylar 3 0 2 1st
125 Cook, C.J. 2 0 1 1st
130 Bliss, Steve 2 0 2 1st
135 Landgraff, Shawn 1 2 0 -
140 Hughes, Sean 2 1 1 3rd
145 Ellerbee, Thomas 1 1 0 2nd
152 Klenovich, Thad 3 0 2 1st
160 Herr, Andrew 1 2 1 4th
171 Wern, Scott 2 0 0 1st
189 Acosta, Cesar 2 0 1 1st
215 Delgado, Luis 2 1 2 3rd
285 Ramirez, Carlos 3 0 1 1st
TOTALS 29 7 17
 
Central's Class 2A, District 5 Individual Results
WGT Name W L Pins Pl
103 Vega, Anto 0 2 0 4th
112 Supple, David 0 2 0 -
119 Snell, Wayne 3 1 2 3rd
125 Supple, Ken 2 1 1 2nd
130 Zayas, Antonio 1 1 0 3rd
135 Ramirez, Vince 2 1 1 2nd
140 Sieber, Robbie 0 2 0 -
145 Cadoret, Shaun 3 1 1 3rd
152 Miller, Mike 0 2 0 -
160 Adams, Tom 0 2 0 -
189 May, Daniel 2 0 1
215 Brazeau, Nathan 3 0 1 1st
TOTALS 16 15 7

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

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