As high school wrestling season begins, a look at the key South Florida storylines

The high school wrestling season is underway, and there are plenty of stories to follow in South Florida over the next three months.

A long-standing dynasty looks to keep its dominant steak of state championships alive. Individual state champions attempt to repeat and those who came oh-so-close last year look to break through for their own state titles. And the continued rise of girls’ wrestling continues into its third season as a sanctioned sport.

Here’s a closer look at each of those storylines.

South Dade’s dominance should continue

The South Dade Bucs remain the top team in the state. They swept both 3A state championships last season — winning their fifth Duals title and 18th Individually Bracketed Tournament.

But it was more than just the fact that they won. It was how they did it.

In the IBT tournament, South Dade made history with all 14 of its wrestlers finishing on the podium as top-eight finishers in their weight class, with nine of those 14 finishing in the top three in their class.

It should be another year of the same for South Dade. Three of their four state champions return in Sawyer Bartelt (who hasn’t lost a match or been taken down in his three years with the Bucs), EJ Solis and Luis Acevedo.

Individual state champions looking to repeat

Miami-Dade and Broward Counties had a dozen individual boys’ wrestling state champions last season, seven of whom will return to the mat this year.

Outside of the three returnees from South Dade, the other four returning wrestlers who won state titles last year all compete in Class 1A: Mater Lakes’ Mason O’Dell (106 pounds in 1A), Somerset Academy’s Jovani Solis (113 pounds in 1A last season, wrestling at 132 this year) and Kendrick Hodge (160 pounds in 1A last season, wrestling at 165 this year), and Cardinal Gibbons’ Michael Mocco (195 pounds in 1A last season, wrestling at 215 this year).

The five state champions from last season who graduated: Cypress Bay’s Andrew Punzalan in the 106 pound weight class, Southwest’s Adrian Ochoa at 160 and Franklyn Ordonez in 182, and South Dade’s Lawrence Rosario in 170 in 3A along with Cardinal Gibbons’ Nicholas Yancey at 138 pounds in 1A.

Names to watch

Beyond the wrestlers who won state titles last year, there are plenty of other names to watch this season. Among them…

3A

Columbus: Apollo Benito (215 pounds)

Cypress Bay: Logan Shapiro (106 pounds)

Doral Academy: Christian Vazquez (113 pounds), Jose Gutierrez Jr. (150 pounds)

Miami Beach: Alejandro Rodriguez (132 pounds)

Palmetto: Cameron Gallivan (138 pounds)

South Dade: Bryan Morales (106 pounds), Guillermo Jaramillo (113 pounds), Nathaniel Williams Jr. (132 pounds),Tyree Graham (144 pounds), Gavin Balmeceda (157 pounds), Christopher Sanchez (190 pounds)

Southwest: Gabriel Tellez (120 pounds), Angel Delgado (126 pounds), Dillon Smith (132 pounds)

Southridge: Frederick Mitchum (120 pounds)

Stoneman Douglas: Rocco Duygulu (106 pounds), David Leiva (120 pounds)

2A

American Heritage: Armando Wisdom (150 pounds), Leviev Kinlock (215 pounds)

Belen Jesuit: Henry Amador (138 pounds)

Mater Academy: Gregory Mendez (132 pounds)

Miramar: Maxinot Mondesir (215 pounds)

North Miami: Gerson Alette (157 pounds)

Varela: Joshua Sanchez (106 pounds)

1A

Cardinal Gibbons: Frankie Florio (144 pounds), Jason Simmons (165 pounds), Dominic Pantuso (175 pounds)

Mater Lakes: Keagan Messina (106 pounds), Kellen Mesina (113 pounds), Ethan Tran (126 pounds), Malikai Badillo (138 pounds), Kalias Nazario (157 pounds), Damian Soto (190 pounds)

Pine Crest: Nathan Chen (215 pounds)

Somerset Academy: Jake Austin (113 pounds), Tristan Sainz (138 pounds), Luis Bellon (150 pounds), Eric Hodge (165 pounds), Noah Perez (175 pounds)

SLAM Academy: Jason Ramirez (113 pounds), Darren Georges (285 pounds)

Girls wrestling continues to grow

Growth continues to be seen on the girls’ wrestling front as it enters its third season as an FHSAA-sanctioned sport.

Miami-Dade and Broward had four individual state champions last year in North Miami’s Mya Bethel and I-Cart Galumette as well as Coral Park’s Sofia Delgado and Stoneman Douglas’ Gabriella Caro. Galumette was the only senior of the group.

Beyond the defending state champions, there are plenty of other names to watch throughout the season who could make deep postseason runs.

Among them: Doral Academy’s Tessa Diaz (235 pounds); Florida Christian’s Chloe Parets (125 pounds) and Rachel Silva (130 pounds); Mater Academy’s Emily Jaspe (140 pounds); Mater Lakes’ Arianna Ruiz (125 pounds), Alena Rik (145 pounds) and Sofia Ferran (110 pounds); Miami Beach’s Valentina Mora (155 pounds); Norland’s Day’Jah Clark (190 pounds); North Miami’s Isis Severe (120 pounds); South Broward’s Latoya Sylvestre (190 pounds); and South Dade’s Geraldine Honore (130 pounds), Anisah Paz (135 pounds), TJ Broadnex (145 pounds) and Rebekkah Kinkade (110 pounds).