Frederick Mitchum learns from losses, wins state title
BY BRANT PARSONS — Before the FHSAA state wrestling tournament finals, Miami Southridge senior Frederick Mitchum had wrestled South Dade’s Luis Acevedo three times this season, each one ending in a loss. But Mitchum had a plan.
After having two rallies come up short in last two meetings, Mitchum knew that if he avoided early mistakes, he would have the motor late in the match to earn the win.
“I knew that I could push the pace with him but he would just keep getting big leads on me,” Mitchum said. “We were working all year in practice to beat this kid by pushing the pace and that’s what finally happened.”
Avoiding the early mistake that had haunted him before, Mitchum took his Class 3A, 120-pound finals match with Acevedo into sudden victory at 4-4. Each wrestler had earned a takedown in the first six minutes in a close match.
Then Mitchum leaned on his conditioning.
All of the running and training paid off for Mitchum as he quickly got in on a single-leg just seconds into the extra period and converted that into the title-winning takedown.
The victory prompted an unscripted celebration from Mitchum that punctuated his journey.
“I worked hard for that moment,” Mitchum said. “I worked hard all four years to get to that moment and it was really emotional because I worked hard for it and earned it.”
Mitchum’s title was the first at Southridge for head coach Albert Pardo, who took over the program last summer.
“He’s super dedicated, very coachable, and he was willing to buy into the new system and way of doing things,” Pardo said of Mitchum. “He’s in great shape and is lightning fast and just wants to win and he’ll do anything you tell the he needs to do to win.”
