December 1 marked the official start of wrestling in Florida, and Coral Shores and Key West wasted no time starting their seasons. The Conchs headed to Hialeah for the H-Town Throwdown on Dec. 5 and 6, a 34-team tournament the team has used as a season starter for several years.
Both the boys and girls teams had an overall winner at the event. Maria Holushko claimed the tournament title by winning four matches, all by pin, at the 140-pound class in the girls division. Angelina Saballos and Wenxin Yu both captured second place in the 190 and 115-pound classes, respectively. Yu’s wins all came via pin, and all were within one minute of the start of the match. The girls team took ninth place overall.
Allens Alexandre won four matches to win first at 285 pounds. Jacob Ferguson finished fifth overall after three wins in his 126-pound class and Reisel Toledo finished sixth at 157. Toledo had four wins, all by pin. The team finished in the top third in 11th place.
Coral Shores opened its competition for the season at the 1A Kickoff at St. John Neumann High School. The Hurricanes had one tournament champion in David Beltran. He captured first in the 175-pound class and was named the most outstanding wrestler in the upper weights for the tournament. Just two athletes are chosen for this award at each tourney, and Beltran was the winner for the 157- to 285-pound weight classes.
Beltran was not the only Hurricane to score points and earn a place for Coral Shores. Sebastian McCoy was the runner-up at 120 pounds while Lucas Cossio, (126), Logan Pabotoy (138) and Sterling Keefe (165) all placed third. John Oughton was fourth at 150. Nate Tristram (157) and Gavin Matheis (132) were sixth and Dax Collins (165) and Jack Brown (175) were seventh.
Marathon, whose program is in its first year, opted to wait a few weeks before entering into competition. Its season opens Dec. 18 at Coral Shores. After that, all three teams will meet in the Southernmost City to participate in Key West’s annual tournament Dec. 19 and 20.
