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| WRESTLING: The Best Teams/Individuals – No. 1 | ||||
 Florida's Best
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Here is a look at the top 10 overall teams and the top wrestlers in each weight class after the first three weeks of the 2003-04 high school wrestling season in the state. | |||
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BRANDON IS TOUGH AS STEEL IN IRONMAN Coach Russ Cozart's Eagles flew up to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio to participate in the ASICS Ironman and convinced the Ohio fans and national writers that they are for real. Brandon placed second with 183 points behind Blair Academy, NJ who had 273. Brandon had two champs, a runner-up, four-thirds and a sixth place finisher. Champs were Franklin Gomez (112) and David Craig (171). Craig had to defeat two reigning USA Wrestling National champs. He defeated Blair Academy's Hudson Taylor by 8-7 in the semifinals. The he bested St. Vincent, Ohio's Rocco Caponi by 3-2 in the finals to win his title. Other placers were Keith Simmons (275) in second. Third were Cesar Grajales (125), Eddie Hutchinson (140), Rocky Cozart (160) and Rashard Goff (215). Ryan Joyce (130) was sixth. Noteworthy among the placers were the efforts by Eddie Hutchinson and Ryan Joyce. Both lost their opening matches in the winner's bracket, so they had to take the long road back to place. Hutchinson won six in a row to come all the way back for third. Joyce won four in a row before falling to sixth with losses in his final two bouts. Brandon also received team points from Brandon Ray (135), Tommy Hutchinson (145) and Jarrod Thompson (189). In this tourney, every point was critical as Brandon nipped third place St. Edward, Ohio, by a single point. In addition to winning the second place trophy, Brandon was moved up to No. 4 in national team rankings by both Wrestling USA Magazine and Amateur Wrestling News. Bob Preusse, the prep writer for AWN, says based on Brandon's "great performance at the Ironman", he is "moving Brandon from preseason # 8 in nation to # 4." Preusse, who is also the Ironman tourney director, wants Brandon to come back next year. He offered his congratulations to Coach Cozart and added, "Your effort here was great for the sport of wrestling!!!!" Countryside takes over the No. 2 position from Oviedo. The Cougars defeated the Lions 35-33 in a head-to-head battle in the finals of the Winter Springs Duals. Each team had seven wins. The difference was that three of Coach Frayer's returning state placers, Dominic DeNunzio (140), A. Jay Hixon (145) and Wesley Walker (152) knocked off three of Coach Coffman's returning state placers, Jesse Robbins, Justin Fraga and Kyle Coffman. Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons moved up as the No. 3 team. Coach Frank Pettineo's Redskins won the Rebel Invitational in Duncan, SC, for the third year in a row. Venice edged into No. 4 with another impressive tourney win. The Indians had seven individual champs as they won the 32nd Annual Captain Archer Memorial at Punta Gorda Charlotte. Three of the Miami-Dade schools, Homestead South Dade, Miami Dr. Krop and Miami Southridge were idle so they remained in their same places. However, Southwest Miami could only manage a second place in the Okeechobee Big Lake Classic so they dropped out of the Top 10. Brooksville Hernando took advance of the opportunity and moved up to No. 8. The Leopards won their own Kiwanis tourney although team leader Addison Chipoletti, was defeated 4-2 by Gainesville's Nick Davis, in a battle of returning state champs. Green Cove Springs Clay moved back in at No. 10 with their win in the Iron Cat Duals at Glen St. Mary Baker County. STATE TOP 10: 1. Brandon; 2. Countryside; 3. Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons; 4. Venice; 5. Oviedo; 6. Homestead South Dade; 7. Miami Dr. Krop; 8. Brooksville Hernando; 9. Miami Southridge; 10. Green Cove Springs Clay. BRANDON Coach Russ Cozart is the Coach of the Week. Cozart's training plan for the Ironman worked to perfection. Brandon had the dates of December 12-13, 2003 circled on their calendar for a long time. "We'd done a lot in the last two months. It is not like we'd put on our shoes and been training for a month and just staying in the room and going to weekend tournaments. It was more than that." Part of Brandon's preparation including trips in October and November to wrestle in tournaments in Lock Haven, PA, Winston-Salem, NC, Jackson, NJ and Norman, OK. "This was a once in a lifetime thing for us here for their wrestling career. I don't know if we are going to be able to do this again so this was real important for us." WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: Franklin Gomez, a newcomer to Brandon this year from New Jersey, is honored for winning a championship at the Ironman tourney in Ohio. Gomez, was seeded only fourth but he soundly defeated St. Edwards, Ohio's Lance Palmer in the finals that was not as close as the final score of 3-0. Palmer had been ranked as No. 1 in the USA by Amateur Wrestling News. TOP WRESTLERS; A. Jay Hixon of Countryside takes over the No. 1 spot at 145 from Oviedo's Justin Fraga. Hixon defeated Fraga in the finals of the Duals at Winter Springs by a 3-2 margin. Brandon's Rashard Goff is new as 215. Goff took a solid third place at the Ironman. South Miami's Javier Estopiñan has not begun wrestling as he is one of the state's top football prospects and has been busy on recruiting visits. TOP WRESTLERS - STATE All-Classes 103 - Shawn Rouhan, Venice; 112 - Keith Koziel, Venice; 119 - Jeff Wimberley Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas; 125 - Cesar Grajales, Brandon; 130 - Jason Machado, Miami Belen Jesuit; 135 - Jason Robbins, Oviedo; 140 - Dominic DeNunzio, Countryside; 145 - A. Jay Hixon, Countryside; 152 - Wesley Walker, Countryside; 160 - Rocky Cozart, Brandon; 171 - David Craig, Brandon; 189 - Nick Davis, Gainesville; 215 - Rashard Goff, Brandon; 275 - Cyrus Wainright, Green Cove Springs Clay. |
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