The road to the FHSAA’s Individual State Wrestling Championships was solidified for Volusia-Flagler area boys wrestlers on Saturday, Feb. 28 after the individual regional meets concluded.
Wrestlers from several local programs took to the mats on Friday and Saturday to clinch their spots. The Flagler Palm Coast Bulldogs found the most success.
Flagler Palm Coast finished second at the FHSAA Region 1-3A individual tournament that saw six of its wrestlers earn podium finishes. The Bulldogs had the most podium finishers and the highest team finish of any local program.
Of the six wrestlers that earned medals for Flagler Palm Coast, two took home gold at DeLand High School.
Kevin McLean won the 120-pound bracket with a fall 1:18 into the match against the host’s Kaiden Olavarria. Freshman JoJo Foalima was victorious in the 165-pound bracket and defeated Hagerty’s Benjamin Wolgamuth with a 17-1 tech fall to do so.
Jacob Hald (106 pounds), Robert Twilley (132) and Michael Fries (150) were the Bulldogs’ silver medalists.
DeLand was the only other local program with two podium finishers at the 3A level. On top of Olavarria’s second-place finish, 285-pounder Taz Logan won bronze after his opponent medically forfeited.
University’s Aiden Kavades appeared in the 150-pound bronze-medal bout and finished fourth after losing to Bartram Trail’s Breckin Lukanich 24-8.
Class 2A boys wrestling regional recap
Behind Flagler Palm Coast, New Smyrna Beach’s wrestlers were also successful in their respective classification.
The Barracudas finished fifth in team points in the FHSAA Region 1-2A individual wrestling tournament on Saturday with one champion and two second-place finishers.
Merrick Miller was New Smyrna Beach’s lone regional champion, defeating Middleburg’s Micah Thomas in the 150-pound final with a second-period fall.
The Barracudas’ pair of silver medalists were on the brink of winning gold as well. Devyn Hicks nearly won the 138-pound bracket, but he ultimately fell to Winter Springs’ Rudley Villareal in sudden victory, 11-8. And 190-pounder Landon Dickerson lost 4-3 in his championship bout.
Casten Thacker also finished fourth at 157 pounds for NSB.
Deltona had one wrestler finish on the podium, and it was on the top step. Javonni Carraturo won gold at 106 pounds with an 11-5 decision over Niceville’s Jace Brechler.
Matanzas, Seabreeze, Pine Ridge and Mainland also earned team points on Saturday.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia-Flagler area wrestlers win 4 boys individual regional titles
Reporting by Zach Allen, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
