ROUNDUP
Wrestlers losing financial bout
BY ANDRE C. FERNANDEZ
a1fernandez@MiamiHerald.com
A year after winning its first district championship, Doral Academy's wrestling program might not get the chance to add any more trophies to its case.
Doral coach Michael Iglesias told The Miami Herald on Wednesday that the charter school's athletic budget might not have the funds to sustain wrestling beyond this season.
''We fundraise all the money we use to keep the program alive,'' Iglesias said. ``We just don't have the numbers right now compared to other sports. The school is trying to help, but right now, it looks like we won't have enough to put together a season.
``We're doing what we can in terms of fundraising at school and trying to get parents and people in the community involved just to raise enough money to finish this season. But it doesn't look good.''
Doral advanced five wrestlers to the state championship meet last season following the first district championship in the program's four-year history.
Doral has 15 wrestlers on its roster this season, is 10-4 in dual meets and is a solid contender to repeat in District 16-1A. Iglesias said he has about five wrestlers with a chance to qualify for the state meet next month in Lakeland.
Having the financial means to compete, however, will be the bigger challenge.
Doral does not have a gymnasium large enough to hold major wrestling tournaments and is forced to travel to most of its competitions. It has two regular-season dual meets left and is scheduled to participate in two invitational tournaments at Florida Christian and Jupiter. But Iglesias said the team might have to withdraw from participating to save money to compete in postseason meets.
Doral's district tournament will be held Feb. 6-7 at Key West High School, and the regional meet is Feb. 13-14 at Cardinal Gibbons in Fort Lauderdale. Each will require bus rides that will cost at least $250.
Iglesias said he and his coaching staff would require $4,000 to afford travel and equipment costs for the regular season, and close to an additional $2,000 for the playoffs and a trip to Lakeland.
''We've been selling candy at school, and for the Key West trip, we might even make some sandwiches and buy our own Gatorade and water and stock up ourselves so we won't have to spend too much on the road,'' assistant coach Ralph Cater said.
Iglesias plans to spend most of the offseason trying to raise money to prevent his program from being cut. Most of Doral's roster is made up of freshmen and sophomores.
''I hope it doesn't come to us having to cancel,'' Iglesias said. ``There's no way I can look at a kid, especially one that has a good chance to excel in this sport, and maybe earn a scholarship one day, and tell them we can't afford to let you compete.''
SOCCER
GMAC semifinal -- Palmetto 4, Coral Gables 0: Sophomore Dasha Muñoz delivered a hat trick Wednesday night at Ted Hendricks Stadium to help the Panthers (13-1-3) advance to Thursday's championship match against Miami Springs.
Muñoz scored three goals, starting with a putback off a saved shot in the 19th minute as Palmetto ousted the defending GMAC champion Cavaliers (13-5-1). Muñoz's trifecta followed an opening goal by freshman midfielder Mathilde Robinson in the 14th minute.
''We've been working a lot on dominating the game through possession,'' Palmetto coach Mike Adeyemi said. 'If we can possess the ball and keep it away from our opponents' control, it will lead to goals, and that's what we've been doing well.''
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