As wrestling season begins, South Florida has its share of individual title contenders
The high school wrestling season is underway.
And while the main team story line in South Florida once again will be the battle between South Dade and Southwest for the Class 3A team title, there are a slew of individuals who are either favorites or have serious cases to win individual state titles this season.
Eight wrestlers for Dade and Broward schools won individual state titles last season, including the area’s first girls’ state champion in the FHSAA’s inaugural year sanctioning the sport on the girls’ side.
Six of those individuals return to the mat this year, while more than two dozen others could find the way to the top of their respective weight classes by season’s end.
Here’s a look at the group.
The returning individual state champions
Sawyer Bartelt and Ansel Cervantes are the only non-senior teammates from last season who won state championships and are back. They headline a South Dade team that is looking to win its 10th consecutive IBT state championship and 18th overall (and potentially add its fifth FHSAA Duals title as well before that).
Bartelt, a junior, went 35-0 last year en route to the Class 3A 220 pound title and went 74-0 overall as a freshman and sophomore. Cervantes, a senior, looks to defend his 195-pound title and build on his 34-1 record from last season.
Southwest’s Gabriel Tellez, a junior, rounds out the Class 3A state champion returners after taking first place in the 106-pound weight class. He’s competing in 113 this year.
Two area state champions return from Class 1A as well in Cardinal Gibbons’ Nicholas Yancey and Somerset Academy’s Kendrick Hodge. Yancey, a senior, is looking to finish his high school career with a third consecutive state title after winning in the 113-pound class as a sophomore and 126-pound class as a junior. Yancey is once again competing in the 126-pound class this year.
Hodge, a junior, looks to defend his Class 1A 160-pound title this year.
On the girls’ side, North Miami’s Mya Bethel won the area’s lone individual state title last season after cruising through competition in the 155-pound class as a freshman. She’s a heavy favorite to repeat.
Other contenders
▪ With Tellez moving to the 113 pound weight class, the 106-pound title in Class 3A could very well be a three-way battle between Doral’s Christian Vasquez, Southridge’s Frederick Mitchum and Cypress Bay’s Andrew Punzalan. Vazquez was the state runner-up and Punzalan finished fourth last season at state in 3A. Mitchum finished third in Class 2A last season at state for Southridge, which has moved up to Class 3A for 2023.
▪ South Dade, as usual, is loaded with state title contenders. In addition to Bartelt and Cervantes, expect Luis Acevedo (120), Joshua Aviles (126), Elvis Solis (138), Misha Arbos (145), Cordell White (160) and Christopher Sanchez (182) to make deep runs.
▪ As for Southwest, Danny Martinez (132), Adrian Ochoa (152) and Franklyn Ordonez-Fernandez (182) are among the top in their weight classes. Ochoa and Ordonez-Fernandez were state runners-up in their respective weight classes last year, while Martinez was third in the 138 class. As a team, the Eagles have finished as the state runner-up to South Dade each of the past three years
▪ Miami Beach’s Aaron Lanster could challenge in the 132 pound weight class. He finished fifth at state last season and went 35-5 overall.
▪ Palmetto senior Richard Alexander is looking to build on his fifth-place in the 195-pound class last season.
▪ Cypress Bay’s Gozie Mosi finished third in the 285-pound class last season while Zach Weidler is moving up to the 170-pound class after finishing fourth in the 152-pound class last season.
▪ In addition to Yancey, Cardinal Gibbons has three other serious title contenders in transfers Michael Mocco and Frankie Floro along with returner Jonathan Hudson as the Chiefs try to make a push in Class 1A. Floro won the individual title at 132 with Delray American Heritage, while Mocco was third in the 182 weight class last year and is moving up to the 195 weight class this season. Hudson finished sixth in the 120 weight class last year.
▪ Somerset’s top wrestlers beyond Hodge include Matthew Velasco, who was fourth in the 113 weight class last year and is moving up to 126 this year, and Tristan Sainz, who finished as runner-up to Yancey in the 126 weight class last year and will compete at 132 this year.
▪ Both of Mater Lakes’ Class 1A state champions from last season in Azakin Sejour and Ethan Vegara graduated, but the Bears will look to Kalisz Nazario in the 145 weight class and Damian Soto (fifth in 220 last year) to carry the team.
Girls contenders
In addition to Bethel winning a state title, four girls’ wrestlers from Dade and Broward who finished as state runners-up return this season in North Miami senior Tydasia Mack, Mater Lakes’ Sofia Ferran, Coral Park’s Sofia Delgado and Stoneman Douglas’ Gabriella Caro.
Mack finished as state runner-up in the 135-pound weight class last season and is moving up to the 140-pound class for the 2022-23 season. Ferran was second in the 110 class. Delgado was runner-up in the 140 class. Caro was second in the 125-pound class.
Braddock’s Analy Picado, a senior, will also look to build on a third-place finish at state. Her lone loss last season came in the semifinals of the 120-pound class bracket.
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