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By TONY CASTRO SPORTS EDITOR

Hernando Today

Published: February 9, 2008

CITRUS SPRINGS – The majority of the news emanating from fourth-year Nature Coast Technical was positive Saturday evening in Citrus County.
And why not?
The Sharks went in with high expectations following the week before's first-ever tournament crown at The Villages.
That momentum carried over Saturday morning during the 10-team, Class 1A, District 5 Wrestling Tournament at Citrus Springs Middle School, hosted by Crystal River High School.
The Sharks fared well early capturing nine first-round matches -- all via pins. They stood second overall to defending champion Inverness-Citrus High.
But in the semifinals, NCT's championship aspirations literally hit the wall. Eight Sharks had an opportunity to reach the finals with a semifinal triumph.
Junior David Simonson won his semifinal at 112 and senior J.J. Baker won his match at heavyweight. But in between, the Sharks suffered a gut-wrenching six straight losses.
What was worse? The first four times in the semifinals that NCT went face-to-face with archrival Hernando, the Leopard grapplers won each time.
Despite the 2-6 semifinal round, which cost them any chance at first place and torpedoed any legitimate shot at second, the Sharks rallied to finish third overall, edging Crystal River, 123.5- 119.5.
Oddly enough after 9½ hours of double-elimination competition, NCT won more matches than second-place Hernando (25-22) and collected more pins (19-17), but still managed to advance seven grapplers to this weekend's intense Class 1A, Region II Tournament at Avon Park's South Florida Community College in Highlands County.
"Overall, we didn't wrestle to our expectations," expressed fourth-year Shark skipper Mike Lastra. "We really wanted to finish second, but give them (HHS) credit. The first four times we paired up with them in the semis, we lost.
"I can't be too upset," added Lastra. "We're really a third-year wrestling program (in 2003-04 the Sharks did not compete at districts). We've come a long ways.
"Today, we wrestled great in the first round and after a poor semifinal round," continued Lastra. "We wrestled better in consolations to push seven guys into regions."
What's the next goal?
"We'd like to get someone to states," replied Lastra. "When you're at states, you've arrived as a program. We wanted to push 10 into regionals. Well, we came close."

Baker's street

Baker (team-best 23-8 won-lost record) paced the young Sharks with a 3-0 blue-ribbon performance at 285 pounds.
The top-seeded Baker opened the meet by planting The Villages freshman Zebulon Davis is 51 seconds.
Next, he quickly disposed of Hernando senior Casey Hostetter in the semifinals in 50 ticks.
In the finals he met up with an old nemesis, Trinity Catholic senior Josh Armstrong.
Armstrong had pinned Baker in 82 seconds the year before in the heavyweight final to deny him first place.
This time was different.
Baker needed 67 seconds to return the favor and earn his third pin of the day, collecting the first-place blue ribbon.
"Being a district champ feels great," shared the 17-year-old Baker. "I've worked hard all year to get this far."
What about the team?
"The team's come a long ways," shrugged Baker. "We're five billion times better now that we have some numbers. Look, I was hoping we'd win it coming in, but when you look at it, we've come a long way."
How badly does Baker want to become the first-ever Shark to reach the State Championship Meet at the Lakeland Center, Feb. 14-16?
"It would be great," he answered. "Oh yeah, I want to be the guy to get there."
NCT's other 1A-5 finalist, junior and No. 2 seed Simonson (23-8), settled for second place after getting blanked via a major decision by Citrus junior and top-seeded Craig Barker, 12-0.
Other Sharks qualifying for this weekend's 1A-II Meet in Highlands County include: sophomore Scott Cronin (23-14) at 119, sophomore Jeremiah Jackson (5-1) at 130, sophomore C.J. Baker (11-15) at 140, senior Jimmy Huang (4-10) at 152 and senior Brandon Nuby (13-5) at 215.

Nature Coast's Class 1A-5 Individual Results
Wgt Name W L Pins PL
103 Forand, Tyler 1 2 1 -
112 Simonson, David 3 1 3 2nd
119 Cronin, Scott 3 1 1 3rd
130 Jackson, Jeremiah 3 1 2 3rd
135 Lambert, Matt 1 2 1 -
140 Baker, CJ 2 2 1 4th
145 McCabe, Ryan 1 2 1 -
152 Huang, Jimmy 2 2 1 4th
160 Goben, Derek 1 2 1 -
171 Gracteroly, Shayne 1 2 1 -
189 Greene, Rockkhem 1 2 1 -
215 Nuby, Brandon 3 1 2 3rd
285 Baker, JJ 3 0 3 1st
TOTALS 25 20 19 -

Sports Editor Tony Castro can be reached at (352) 544-5278 or online at acastro@hernandotoday.com

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