Seven North High boys wrestlers qualify for state championships
A little more than a year ago, to say that the North Fort Myers High School wrestling program was at a crossroads was an understatement.
The Red Knights lost their head coach Kris Hayward, who died last January, and needed a coach to fill a huge void. Enter Dusty Fellows, who took over the young team, got them to finish strong and even put a state champion, heavyweight Seth Tshiams on the podium.
It was certain that the Red Knights would be a strong team this season, but what the team accomplished this past weekend might go beyond expectation.
At the Region 2A-3 wrestling championships at Charlotte High School in Punta Gorda this weekend, North sent seven wrestlers to the tournament.
All seven advanced to states, including three regional champions and two runners-up. This made this season one of the most successful in school history.
Clinton Thompson won the 138-pound weight class. Kalel Hernandez overcame lots of adversity to win at 175, while West Lucas won at 190.
Thompson won the 138-pound weight class with a pin at 1:17 over Riverdale’s Logan Miller, which was huge because the two teams fought tooth and nail for the runner-up trophy.
Hernandez overcame lots of adversity to win at 175 with an 11-0 major decision over Nikolai Krywko of Parrish to earn another trip to states, where he finished seventh last year.
Hernandez said he had a goal to tech everybody, but coming off several concussions that wiped out most of the year, he didn’t have the endurance.
“My conditioning is really bad. Once I get into the later pounds. I get very fatigued and struggle,” Hernandez said.
For Lucas, it was all about having fun and competing. He didn’t pin anybody, but the result was still a regional championship. He was proud of how everyone competed.
“I couldn’t get any pins this weekend, but every one of our guys who qualified for regionals qualified for states. The past few years we’ve really been good. We’ve come a long way,” Lucas said.
The Red Knights had two other finalists who had to settle for second. At 106, Andrew Bishop, who reached the finals with a last-second reversal in the semis, lost a major decision 12-1 against Charlotte’s Alexander Nassiff.
At 157 pounds, Gabriele Nudi was defeated by Brooks Cowan of Northeast Senior in a 5-1 decision.
As a team, North earned runner-up honors behind only host Charlotte and ahead of Riverdale.
The Red Knights started the weekend strong. The team went 14-0 on Friday to send all seven wrestlers to the semis.
On Saturday, only two faltered in the semis. Wyatt Alexander lost at 113 pounds, while Landon Murphy was downed at 144.
Both won the so-called “blood round” to clinch a spot at states for being in the top four. Murphy finished third, while Alexander was fourth.
The boys aren’t the only ones sending wrestlers to Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee. North will send five girls this weekend. North was district champion in girls wrestling two weeks ago and sent five girls to states at regionals.
Cora Hayes, Isabella Hull, Gabriella Sergi, Alyssa Dolittle and Leila Irizarry were the girls to earn the invites to states.