Prep wrestling | Bradenton Christian's Allen Morano earns Class 1A-District 11 crown
LARGO -- Bradenton Christian eighth-grader Allen Morano earned the only individual title among Manatee County schools at Saturday's Class 1A District 11 wrestling tournament at Indian Rocks Christian School.
Morano won his first district title by earning a decision against Southeast's Randy Torres at 142 pounds. Morano nearly had Torres pinned at the end of the first period, only to have the buzzer sound. Morano went up 8-1 in the second period and cruised.
"He (Morano) just started wrestling a couple years ago," Bradenton Christian head coach Jonathan Kliewer said. "Solid kid, good trainer."
Kliewer pointed out that the only points Morano gave up in the tournament were on situations where he cut his opponent loose intentionally.
"That first period, I felt really strong and it gave me confidence," Morano said of the final. "When he (Torres) made that first mistake, I capitalized."
In the team standings, Southeast finished fifth among the 14 teams with 101 points. Bradenton Christian took seventh with 58 and Bayshore took ninth with 53. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to next week's regional tournament.
Junior Masen Foss also advanced for Bradenton Christian. He finished third at 285.
"Foss is a second-year kid that went from a losing record a year ago to qualifying for his second regional," Kliewer said.
Foss heads to regionals with an 18-16 record. Also qualifying for Bradenton Christian was Zach Mayer, a sophomore at 145.
"We looked at the calendar to see what the hardest matches were (this season) and we went there," Kliewer said, mentioning the Ippolito, at which Morano took fifth, and the Graves invitationals.
For Southeast, seven wrestlers advanced to regionals, including Darrien Grant (195), Stephen Kelle (170), Randy Torres (113). All finished second. Beyond them, Emanuel Miril (132), Greg Jackson (145), Jonathan Locke (152), and Sidney Douglas (182) all qualified through the consolation bracket.
"I think this gives us great motivation to work harder in the wrestling room," Southeast head coach Nick Badle said. "There are some mental things we need to work on, three-second mistakes can turn into five points."
For St. Stephens, Jacob Manning (106), Maxwell Manning (132), Parker Lansberg (160) all qualified for regionals through the consolation bracket. Bayshore qualified Shawn Adkins (113), James Russell (126), Trevon Yingling (152) through the consolation bracket.
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 11:48 PM with the headline "Prep wrestling | Bradenton Christian's Allen Morano earns Class 1A-District 11 crown ."