Golden Bears Wrestling Club with Mater Lakes Academy wrestlers wins Megatron Duals
The Golden Bears Wrestling Club (Mater Lakes Academy) won the Varsity and Middle School divisions at the Megatron Duals in July at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
Teams throughout Florida competed in the two-day event.
The Golden Bears Varsity team went 5-0, defeating Palm Harbor 45-23, Port Charlotte Rangers 48-22, Lemon Bay 41-27, and Florida Gold 42-23.
In the final match in a battle of unbeatens, the Golden Bears defeated (Jacksonville) Black Hive Wrestling Club 39-35 to clinch the championship.
Going undefeated were Bryan Picallo, Azakin Sejour and Ethan Vergara.
Vergara, who will be a senior, was the FHSAA Class 1A state champion at 285. Picallo, a member of the Team Florida 14U wrestling team, will be a freshman. Sejour, also a senior in the fall, qualified for state as a sophomore.
The Golden Bears won the Middle School division by beating Florida Gold 58-12 and (Miami) Fight Sports the Falls 74-3.
Going undefeated were Keagan Mesina (sixth grade), Chris Greene (seventh grade), Mason O’Dell (seventh grade), Kellen Mesina (eighth grade), Mateus Sgai (eighth grade), and Ethan Tran (seventh grade).
Golden Bears Wrestling Club / Mater Lakes Academy coach Brandon Neifeld said: “I thought our middle school team could win. We have a really good group of middle schoolers, who are getting older now. A lot of them can already compete with the high schoolers. The next three, four, five years, we’re going to keep getting better.”
The Golden Bears Wrestling Club has also been competing in freestyle tournaments during the summer. Vergara will wrestle in the prestigious freestyle nationals this weekend in Fargo, North Dakota.
As far as high school wrestling goes, Mater Lakes Academy finished second at districts, third at regionals and sixth at state in Class 1A in the 2020-21 season.
With district realignment for the 2021-22 campaign, Mater Lakes Academy will compete with several teams including Miami Pace, Miami Springs and Miami Jackson at districts.
The region is tough with state champion Somerset-Pembroke Pines, American Heritage-Delray, Cardinal Gibbons and Jensen Beach.
Seahorse wrestling
Seahorse Wrestling in Weston continues this summer.
The Bad Bay Wrestling Club summer practice schedule: Advanced practice starts at 4:15 p.m. New wrestlers starts at 5 p.m.
Must have a USA Wrestling card. It can be purchased at:
FLORIDA<code_dp>AMATEUR<code_dp>WRESTLING.<code_dp>ORG.
July practice dates: July 13, 15, 20, 22, 27.
Questions text Cypress Bay wrestling coach Allen Held at 954-854-1124.
New coaches & award winners
For high schools in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, if you have new hires or coaches and athletes who won special awards (local, state, regional, nationals), email hssports@miamiherald.com.
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Roundup compiled by Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@miamiherald.com
