Jensen Beach wrestlers win 4th straight region title
JENSEN BEACH - For the fourth straight year, Jensen Beach High School's wrestling team has captured the region title.
Scoring 204.5 points, Jensen Beach won the Region 4-2A title on Saturday, pulling away from runner-up Palm Bay (167) and third-place Olympic Heights (149.5) in the Falcons gym.
"From top to bottom, our guys stepped up," said Jensen Beach wrestling coach Tom McMath. "We are taking ten guys to state, had five of our wrestlers in the finals and three were champs.
"It's a credit to our team and I'm very proud of our guys. To win four straight region titles is pretty amazing."
Winning region titles for Jensen Beach were Kyle Kirkham (145), Chad Nix (182) and Richard Quintero (195). Liam Martin (152) and Blake Wiswell (160) finished runner-up.
Okeechobee's Kallen Pinerio (145) and Port St. Lucie's Emmanuel Noel (170) also finished runner-up in their weight division.
The top four wrestlers in each weight division advance to the Florida High School Wrestling State Championships Friday and Saturday at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
TEAM SCORES
1. Jensen Beach 204.5; 2. Palm Bay 167; 3. Olympic Heights 149.5; 4. Merritt Island 112.5; 5. South Broward 81; 6. Heritage 73.5; 7. Okeechobee 62; 8. Norland 55.5; 9. Bayside 50.5; 10. Stranahan 47; 11. West Boca Raton 46; 12. Dillard 45; 13. Port St. Lucie 44; 14. Eau Gallie 41.5; 15. Sebastian River 38; 16. Miami Springs 36; 17. Miami Sunset 36; 18. Miami Northwestern 34; 19. Belen Jesuit; 20. Hialeah-Miami Lakes 30; 21. Northeast 28; 22. Suncoast 26; 23. Goleman 25; 24. Doral Acaddemy 23; 24. Dwyer 23; 26. Palm Beach Lakes 21; 27. Miami Central 20; 28. Boyd Andeerson 16; 28. Mourning 16; 30 South Fork 12; 31. Viera 10; 32. Blanche Ely 3; 33. Archbishop McCarthy 0; 33. Carol City 0.
FINALS
113: (1) Andrew Valverde (South Broward) dec. (2) Timothy Tran (Bayside) 7-0; (3) Wyatt Kirkham (Jensen Beach) pin (4) Weston Blalock (Eau Gallie) 3:37.
120: (1) Seth Adeclat (Heritage) dec. (2) Alexander Godinez (Miami Lakes) 7-3; (3) Zachary Robertson (Sebastian River) dec. (4) Joey Tufo (Jensen Beach) 3-1
126: (1) Casey Jackson (Merritt Island) dec. (2) Chance Scott (Olympic Heights) 3-1 OT; (3) Kyle Moran (Jensen Beach) dec. (4) Dylan Mira (Doral Academy) 8-0
132: (1) Shane Stewart (Palm Bay) dec. (2) Dacoda Deyoung (Merritt Island) 16-1; (3) Marcus Rivera (Olympic Heights) dec. (4) Austin Scee (Okeechobee) 13-6
138: (1) Nick Peglow (Olympic Heights) dec. (2) Dylan Perrow (Palm Bay) 10-4; (3) Caelin Cascione (Jensen Beach) pin (4) Kahris Blackman (Miami Central) 2:16
145: (1) Kyle Kirkham (Jensen Beach) pin (2) Kallen Pinerio (Okeechobee) 3:22; (3) Nadird Odar (South Broward) dec. (4) David Sastre (Miami Sunset) 3-2
152: (1) Eric Lentz (West Boca) dec.(2) Liam Martin (Jensen Beach) 3-1; (3) Chris Patterson (Palm Bay) dec. (4) Danny Perez (Miami Sunset) 15-6
160: (1) Bryce Poppell (Palm Bay) dec. (2) Blake Wiswell (Jensen Beach) 9-3; (3) Alex Rodriguez (Miami Springs) pin (4) Ethan Davis (Olympic Heights) 1:55
170: (1) Matt Cates (Palm Bay) pin (2) Emmanuel Noel (Port St. Lucie) :55; (3) Jack Sopotnick (Jensen Beach) dec. (4) Owen Cavanaugh (Bayside) 19-3
182: (1) Chad Nix (Jensen Beach) dec. (2) Alex Bordeau (West Boca) 4-3; (3) Arlen Dean (Palm Bay) pin (4) Jon Roseme (Olympic Heights) :56
195: (1) Richard Quintero (Jensen Beach) dec. (2) Denzel Addison (Norland) 9-2; (3) Troy Jaffy (Olympic Heights pin (4) Devonte Wellons (Miami Northwestern) 2:54
220: (1) Caden Norris (Merritt Island) dec. (2) Shanoyd Whyte (Dillard) 22-7; (3) Joseph Schultz (Belen Jesuit) pin (4) Nico Esposito (Northeast) :38
285: (1) Deandre Carr (Stranahan) pin (2) Joseph Lopez (Heritage) 1:20; (3) Connor Liston (Merritt Island) pin (4) Brenden Mimnaugh (Port St. Lucie) 2:38
Region 3-3A
Treasure Coast High School finished fifth overall in the Region 3-3A meet held at Park Vista High School.
St. Thomas Aquinas was the team winner with 195 points.
Treasure Coast was fifth (85), Fort Pierce Central tied for sixth (83.5), Martin County ninth (62.5), Vero Beach 22nd (29.5) and St. Lucie West Centennial 26th (12)..
Sal Spera (152) and Jerry Adrain (220) finished in second place for Treasure Coast.
Fort Pierce Central's Jared Fieitas (160) won his weight division, with Josh Westberry (170) third and Dominick LaPresti (133) fourth.
Vero Beach's William Laziman (285) was fourth.
From Martin County, Ty Warner (138) and Jeret Harvey (285) also advance.
All of the above wrestlers will compete in the FHSAA state finals Friday/Saturday in Kissimmee.