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Vollick Avenges Key Wrestling Loss

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 23, 2008

PLANT CITY - After losing his first match, Travis Vollick just wanted to find his way to the final day of the state wrestling tournament.

The Plant City High junior did just that, though his Feb. 16 action ended with a tough loss to Michael Ducre of Dr. Phillips High.

Vollick gave the Plant City area its best finish at the Class 3A meet, which concluded last weekend at The Lakeland Center. Durant High was shut out from making it to the final day of the tournament, as seniors Christian Reed and Yamil Crespo went 1-2 in their bouts.

"I'm scratching my head over it still," Durant High head coach Dennis Kitko said. "We're too good of a team to not do better when we get to state. Something mentally is not clicking when we get there, and I'm going to work on figuring out what it is."

Vollick, as the lone Raider who qualified for state, barely missed out on placing in the top six in the 171-pound weight class.

In his first match Feb. 14, Vollick went up against T.J. Sturgeon of Orlando's University High, falling 5-1.

After that, Vollick bounced back by pinning Western wrestler Ryan Conley. That earned Vollick a spot in the Feb. 15 matches, where to advance he needed to avenge a loss to Mitchell's Jessey Lorentsen. It was no problem, with Vollick scoring a 5-0 decision.

"That was the guy who beat him at regionals, when he had Travis down 7-0 by using a side headlock that he had never seen before," Raiders head coach Nick Ferrario said. "He came back to lose only 8-7 in that match, and then he just controlled the match at state."

Vollick was one win away from earning a rematch with Sturgeon, but lost to Ducre 2-0 in overtime.

The closeness of the match displayed to Ferrario how close Vollick can be to challenging for a state title as a senior.

"He's not far off. He just needs to put in more hard work and dedication in the weight room," Ferrario said.

For Durant, Reed and Crespo were both seniors who fully expected a spot in Feb. 16's match list, but both were ousted Feb. 15. They lost their final matches to the eventual third-place finishers in their respective weight class.

Reed won his 125-pound opener, edging Boyd Anderson High's Durvan Thompson 6-5. But Feb. 15, Reed fell 5-3 to Jake Rio of Columbus High, then in an elimination match lost to Olympia High's Dylan Ykimoff 5-4.

At 145 pounds, Crespo went to overtime with Niceville's Will Jones before losing. After taking his first wrestle-back via pin, Crespo lost 8-1 to Miramar's Javon Arcelay, who entered the state meet with a 42-1 record.

Alex Hamm and Nick Hadick, Durant's other state qualifiers, lost their two bouts. Both return for next season, however.

For the season, Reed finished with a 50-5 mark and Crespo was 49-7.

In the team standings, South Dade finished comfortably in first place. South Dade was the school that ended Brandon's 459-match winning streak in January.

Brandon took its eighth-straight team title by winning Class 2A. Fort Myers' Riverdale had the widest margin of the team titlists, dominating the Class 1A field.

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

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