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Reed, Vollick Win Wrestling Titles

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 2, 2008

PLANT CITY - Today's district wrestling meet starts at about noon, and that's a good sign for the Durant High Cougars.

Durant came away from last week's Hillsborough County championships with a strong second-place showing, but the Cougars' point total could have been higher.

"We had nine guys make the semifinals, and only one guy won. I think it's because the semifinals were Saturday Jan. 26 morning," Durant head coach Dennis Kitko said. "I'm not a morning person, and I think our team is the same way."

The lone Cougar to shake off his morning sleep effectively was Christian Reed, who went on to claim the county championship in the 125-pound weight class. Five more Cougars rebounded from their semifinal defeats to win third place bouts, helping push the Cougars to a final score of 222, nearly 20 points ahead of third-place Alonso.

Plant City High's Travis Vollick had an outstanding tournament, winning the 171-pound category. Vollick was able to defeat Brandon's David Austin 5-4 in the finals. Brandon, which easily took the overall title with 367.5 points, had 10 wrestlers reach the finals, and seven of them were victorious.

Reed did not have to face a Brandon opponent. In the finals, he topped Alonso's Laz Palma with a first-period pin. All four of Reed's victories were by pin, and the longest he was pushed was by Armwood's Jackie McDaniel, who Reed took down at the midway point of their bout.

"He is on a mission," Kitko said of Reed. "He is pushing himself so much. I would be surprised if he doesn't take it all the way to a region championship."

First comes today's district meet. Durant and Plant City are among the nine squads in 3A-District 5 which also features Alonso, Bloomingdale, Gaither, Sickles, Riverview, the host East Bay and Lakeland. Action will begin at 11 a.m. and will go straight through, with a 45-minute break before the championship and consolation finals.

All of the final four placers will see their seasons extend at least to the regional stage. Those last matches will probably begin about 4 p.m. today.

Durant's Alex Hamm (103), Derek Hudson (135), Yamil Crespo (145), Tyler Shepherd (160) and Devin Johnson (215) posted third-place finishes at the county meet, which featured all 20 of Hillsborough's public schools. Action was Jan. 25 and 26.

Crespo came the closest to making the finals, losing his semifinal meeting in overtime against Wharton's Matt Guice.

T.J. Davis and Marshaun Shoemake finished fourth and Tykie Mastorides came in fifth to add to Durant's overall score. Mastorides came two seconds away from a school record for fastest pin, beating his quarterfinal opponent from Spoto in nine seconds.

Plant City had Colby Clark record a fifth-place result and Nick Sicignano came in sixth. Clark and Shepherd met late in the consolation bracket with Shepherd squeaking out a 2-1 victory. Clark and Sicignano won four matches apiece. The Raiders wound up in 11th place.

Vollick pinned Gaither's Evan Reynolds late in the first period of his opening bout, then in the quarterfinals Vollick scored an impressive 15-0 fall of Tyler Hooks of East Bay. Hooks won the rest of his matches and finished third.

In the semifinals, Vollick edged Middleton's Ricardo Albaladejo 5-3.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa trib.com.

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