Girls Season Preview: Sport grows as more teams battle for top spot

BY BRANT PARSONS — The second season of sanctioned girls wrestling promises to be one thing - bigger.

Rosters are growing across the state and the number of schools offering the sport could be over 300 this year.

More girls means deeper tournaments and more depth in wrestling rooms around Florida. All great things for a sport surging in growth.

The top of the team race should prove to be bigger this season too with a collection of teams looking to win the state IBT title in March.

Defending state champion No. 3 Orlando Freedom graduated a ton of talent with state champion Kailey Rees one of four state placers who finished their high school career last season for the Patriots.

“We lost a good group of seniors but we have a lot of girls that are ready to make a name for themselves," Orlando Freedom coach David Bush said.

Freedom does have some wrestlers who already have a name for themselves with state champion Cameron Galvin and state placers Keyla DeLeon and Matie Coutinho back.

State qualifiers Salexa Lontoc-Ortiz and Isabel Perez are back along with a deep lineup of wrestlers waiting for their chance.

“I think we have the ability to shock a lot of people,” Bush said. “They've been in the background learning and training and are ready to make a name for themselves.”

Adding to the degree of difficulty in the team race is the rise of deeper rosters throughout the state.

Nearly every coach we talked to this offseason spoke about how their rosters had grown exponentially and the programs that are just starting girls wrestling officially this year already are getting numbers.

“We are excited to see it grow,” Bush said. “Every year is going to be tougher in girls wrestling because we keep seeing an increase in numbers.”

At least on paper heading into the season, No. 1 Matanzas looks like it may be the team to beat this season.

The Pirates, who finished a point behind No. 2 Ponte Vedra last season in third place, return state champion Tiana Fries and state placers Mariah Mills, Isabella Tietje, and Christina Borgmann.

State placers Brielle Bibla and Kendall Bibla transferred to Matanzas this summer to add depth to an already deep team.

Matanzas enters the season with 11 wrestlers ranked in the Kabra Wrestling preseason girls rankings.

“We are solid up and down the lineup,” Matanzas coach Mike Fries said. “I'm excited to see if they can rise to the occasion.”

With expectations comes pressure and the Matanzas coaching staff is working to get them ready for the moment.

“We really push them in practice to not really focus on the big stuff - that’s our job as coaches,” Fries said. “We tell them we want them to be competitive and work from there.”

No. 3 Ponte Vedra returns as many as six wrestlers from last year’s team including potentially having state champion Olivia Richie and state placers Erin Rizzuto and Natallia Choquegonza back.

The Sharks, who did turn in a preseason form to Kabra Wrestling, may also have Josie Sagasser back in the lineup after she took the year off to study abroad.

Other teams to watch are No. 4 Kissimmee Osceola, No. 5 North Miami, and No. 6 Oakleaf.

Kealonie Vega returns for Osceola this year after missing all of last season due to injury. North Miami’s Mya Bethel returns to lead her squad after winning a state title last season.

State champions Gabriella Perez and Henlee Haynes return this season to defend their titles.

Perez is at Fort Pierce Central after winning at Treasure Coast last year.

Mosley’s Haynes enters the season nationally-ranked.

The Florida High School Wrestling District Previews

Click on link to see preview

Class 3A: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Class 2A: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Class 1A: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Class G-1A: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Notes

Rankings listed next to teams are the preseason Kabra rankings in both IBT and Duals. (IBT/Dual)

SC = State Champion last season

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th = State placer

SQ = State qualifier

RC = Region champion

R2, R3, R4 = Region placer

RQ-BR = Region qualifiers who reached the blood round

RQ = Region qualifier

DC = District champions

D2, D3, D4, D5, D6 = District placer