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Wrestlers Look For Another Team Title

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

PLANT CITY - Hoping for a team title, like the one Durant High earned at the district wrestling tournament, might be asking too much. But the Cougars have the numbers to pull it off.

Durant sent 11 of its 14 wrestlers to East Lake High School for the Region 3A-5 meet, which will determine who advances to the state championships. The meet started Friday and concludes today.

"We'll have three or four teams in regionals that are better than anyone in our district, so it's going to be a lot tougher," said Durant head coach Dennis Kitko, who was happy with his team's performance at East Bay last week.

Durant finished with 187.5 points, ahead of Bloomingdale's 160 with the Bulls closely followed by Alonso and Riverview.

The Cougars built up an insurmountable lead with the four championship performances coming in the first eight finals Feb. 2. Tykie Mastorides (112), Christian Reed (125), Derrick Hudson (135) and Yamil Crespo (145) earned individual titles.

Three other Cougars, Alex Hamm, T.J. Davis and Devin Johnson, won their first two matches before falling in the finals. Getting to the third-place final, assuring a trip to the regionals, were Christian Leto, Jordan Wellman, Tyler Shepherd and Nick Hadick.

Marson Shoemake, the Cougars' 171-pounder, had a sudden end to his season when he was knocked unconscious. Lakeland's Horace Davis inadvertently kneed Shoemake in the head twice.

"He got a slight concussion," Kitko said. "The guy was trying to come around and it was totally an accident. Marson's walking around just fine and everything. ... but something's cracked back there in his head."

After Hamm lost a tight 1-0 match with Alonso's Tommy Milanes in the first finals match-up, and with three more Durant versus Alonso meetings upcoming, the Cougars were in danger of being overtaken by the Ravens. But in an exciting final, Mastorides pinned Mark Piazza, and in the 117-pound third place match Leto defeated Alonso's Mike Schepman 2-1. Schepman had handed Leto a 9-7 defeat in the first round.

Reed followed with a defeat of Laz Palma in the 125-pound final and the district team title was essentially assured. When Reed recorded the pin he was ahead of Palma 10-0 in the match.

Those closest competitors to Durant at the district tournament will be sending plenty of wrestlers to East Lake, but standout schools from the other districts in Region 5 will make it a stronger field.

"Palm Bay, Countryside and Kissimmee Osceola are all really good," Kitko said. The host Eagles are also very tough.

Mastorides' first-round opponent Friday was East Lake's Neil Uy, who has a better record than Mastorides.

Wellman had to start Friday against Tyler Parry of Countryside, who is 45-1.

Second-day action is scheduled for 10 a.m. today with finals set to start at 5 p.m. The Florida High School Athletics Association mandates that the action be broken into separate sessions, which means admission will be charged twice for those who wish to attend all day.

Those who advance out of the tournament will wrestle in the state finals next week in Lakeland.

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

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