Canes win two medals

LAKELAND — Similar to the wrestling team they represent, neither Alex Doran nor Stephen Cotton quit when things didn’t fall their way during the two-day state wrestling tournament.

It was a parallel not lost on Manatee High coach Andy Gugliemini.

Doran and Cotton recovered from Friday defeats and wound up earning state medals, awarded to the top six finishers in each weight class, when the Class 3A competition wrapped at The Lakeland Center.

Doran (135 pounds) and Cotton (140) both placed fourth.

“They showed a lot of fight,” Gugliemini said. “They showed what Manatee wrestling is all about — you never give up, you always try to better yourself, whether it be today, tomorrow or next week — you’re always trying to get better. They showed a lot of fight, and I really liked that.”

After falling in the quarterfinals, Doran and Cotton won their second-round consolation bouts Friday and clinched a place on the medal podium Saturday morning when Doran pinned South Miami’s Orlando Cardelle and Cotton scored an 11-4 decision over Brandon’s Travis Berridge.

Doran then defeated Deland’s Valentin Sotomayor 4-1, and Cotton recorded an 8-7 win over Hialeah American’s Jose Balboa in the consolation semifinals.

Both dropped their consolation final, with Doran getting nipped 3-2 by Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas’ Joey Eterno and Cotton getting pinned in 48 seconds by Miami Columbus’ Nicholas Martin-Hildalgo.

It’s the third medal for Doran, a junior who was a state champ as a freshman and a runner-up last year, and the first for Cotton, a senior whose 50 wins tied Andrew Fulk’s single-season record at Manatee.

“They’ll be on the podium ... and they should both be very proud of everything they accomplished this year,” Gugliemini said, “and how well they represent Manatee wrestling.”

It was a difficult season for Manatee, which was hit by injuries and an assortment of other ailments and had its string of 13 county titles and four straight district titles snapped.

But in the end, they were the only area team to send wrestlers to the medal podium.

“There were a lot of instances where we could have just laid down, and we didn’t do that,” Gugliemini said. “We kept fighting — everybody, from my assistant coaches to my (junior-varsity) kids to my state place-winners. That’s what we’re about — keep fighting.”

Class 2A Palmetto’s season of firsts nearly included the program’s first state medal before 285-pounder Darius Brooks was pinned in the second round of the consolation bracket by Citra North Marion’s Matt Pringle.

Brooks, who won Palmetto’s first regional title this year, came a match away from placing.

However, Brooks and Palmetto’s other qualifier, Donnell Reed, became the first Tiger wrestlers to win a match at the state level.

“Lots of milestones,” coach Bryan Wilkes said. “We’re happy about the season. Watching Darius lose was emotional — we wanted a state place-winner. The season as a whole — these guys, for a lack of a better term, they persevered. They really did. We won a lot of matches we shouldn’t have won.”

Brooks is a senior. But Reed is a sophomore who Wilkes hopes benefits from his run to Lakeland next winter.

“It’s a big experience,” Wilkes said. “You don’t realize how big of an experience it is until you do come back the next year.”

In Class 1A, Southeast’s Ludger Denis (130) also fell one win short of a medal, falling to Green Cove Springs Clay’s Jason Wojcik in the consolation round.

@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:State wrestling Tournament

At The Lakeland Center

Local results

Class 3A

Consolation finals

135 — Joey Eterno (St. Thomas Aquinas) dec. Alex Doran (Manatee), 3-2

140 — Nicholas Martin-Hidalgo (Miami Columbus) pinned Stephen Cotton (Manatee), :48

@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:Consolation semifinals

135 — Alex Doran (Manatee) dec. Valentin Santomayor (Deland), 4-1

140 — Stephen Cotton (Manatee) dec. Jose Balboa (Hialeah American), 8-7

@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:Third round consolation

135 — Alex Doran (Manatee) pinned Orlando Cardelle (South Miami), 2:15

140 — Stephen Cotton (Manatee) dec. Travis Berridge (Brandon), 11-4

@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:Class 2A

Third round consolation

285 — Matt Pringle (Citra North Marion) pinned Darius Brooks (Palmetto), 2:42

@z-BR Agate Bold Centered:Class 1A

Third round consolation

130 — Jason Wojcik (Green Cove Springs Clay) dec. Ludger Denis (Southeast), 7-1