Gianni Maldonado is your Wrestler of the Week for Week 8

BY BRANT PARSONS — Everything was on the line and nobody was happier for the moment than Lake Gibson’s Gianni Maldonado.

The top-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds needed to win the final bout in the Class 2A state duals final against the second-ranked wrestler for his team to be state champions again - and he came through spectacularly.

His win by fall punctuated a sixth state duals title for Lake Gibson and earned him the spot of Wrestler of the Week for Kabra Wrestling in Week 8.

“I wanted the match, I was looking forward to it,” Maldonado said after the win. “It was going to be the last match and I savored it and I just went out there and wrestled how I was taught to do.”

As the final bout grew closer and the realization across the gym that Maldonado’s match would mean the state title, the buzz grew too.

By the time Maldonado and Tampa Jesuit’s Kawayran Vazquez toed the line, people were lined up four rows deep around the mat and the crowd was hyper-focused on what was going to happen next.

And Maldonado didn’t flinch, winning the bout and sending the Lake Gibson faithful into delirium.

“There isn’t another one I’d want out there,” Lake Gibson head coach Danny Walker said. “That was #1 vs #2 and the state duals on the line and I’ve seen kids crack under that pressure and he didn’t - that’s how he’s built.”