BRADENTON -- Ricky Almodovar's wrestling career is dotted with accomplishments.
He's a two-time state qualifier. Last season, he helped Southeast win its first district team title in 21 years. On Friday, during the first day of Seminoles' annual duals tournament, he recorded his 100th victory.
Yet Almodovar wants to add a couple more highlights to his resume before he wrestles his final match. One is leaving the state wrestling tournament with a medal. And the other is becoming the program's all-time wins leader, which Almodovar came five wins closer to achieving Saturday when he capped a 9-0 run at the Southeast Duals to win the title at 160 pounds.
Almodovar is 11-2 this season with 107 wins for his career. The school record held by Joey Fazio is 115 and very attainable considering district tournaments don't begin until the week of Feb. 23.
"At first, I didn't really care about it much. I didn't think it was going to be in my reach," Almodovar said Saturday after Southeast finished sixth in the 12-team tournament. "My main goal was nothing more than five losses this year."
Reaching that mark should help send Almodovar back to the Class 1A state meet for the third consecutive year. He went two and out as a sophomore and won a match last season, but would like to win a medal awarded to the top six finishers in each weight class.
"First time making it, I was just happy I got there," he said. "The second time, I was disappointed in myself because I felt I could have done better. But it's my last year, and I'm going to turn it on and try my hardest."
David Hernandez went 7-2 at 182 pounds for Southeast.
Palmetto went 5-4 and defeated Fort Myers Dunbar in the seventh-place match. Aaron McDaniel went 8-1 at 120 to land on the all-tournament team while Chase Washington (145) and Leonel Barboza (160) went 8-1 as well.
"We're not ready yet. But we'll be ready Feb. 28," Tigers coach Bryan Wilkes said. "We say this every year: That's when wrestling season really starts, that weekend of districts. That's when we're ready."
The Tigers are 11-6 and host the 12-team Tiger Duals at 9 a.m. Saturday.
"I look up to these kids because they wrestle, period. I always have," Wilkes said. "I actually look in the wrestling room sometimes and I go, 'Why would anybody want to do this' because it's so hard. But for them to come and get their practices -- we practiced New Year's Day because we had to -- You've got to respect them for doing it."
Braden River (1-9) was 11th while Bayshore (0-9) was 12th.
Brandon won the team title with a 40-31 victory in the finals over Colorado's Paonia High. Brandon is the state's all-time leader in team (25) and individual (108) championships at the state tournament and has won 14 consecutive team titles at state.
Paonia, located about 150 miles outside of Denver, won its third straight Class 2A state title last year.
Sarasota defeated Dunedin to finish third, while the Sarasota Military Academy took fifth.
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