The road to States got a little narrower as the 37 Hernando County Wrestlers coming out of District victories faced off against some tough competition in their Regional battles. The nine Springstead wrestlers from 2A -2R took on competition from Lake Gibson, Brandon, and Jesuit. Hernando High School Wrestlers were among those to watch out for in 1A-2R as well as teams from Palm Bay, Merritt Island, and The Master’s Academy (Oviedo). All in all the two-day Regional Tournament would leave each team suffering some tough defeats, and some emotional victories. There are 14 grapplers that emerged headed to States, 10 from 1A-2R and 4 from 2A-2R.
In 1A-2R, Hernando would advance the most individual wrestlers with a total of 8, one of those would be first-time State Qualifier Senior, Chris Spellman who took first in the 220 lb class. Accompanying Chris from Hernando will be Seniors Samuel Fleming (285), Billy Gould (152), Billy Fetzner (160), Jason Perez (145) and Jonathan Auhn (195), Junior Diego Mojica (126) and Sophomore TJ Rodier (120). Both Weeki Wachee and Nature Coast would each advance one wrestler: Senior Matthew Kovalskiy (195) from Weeki Wachee and Junior Caleb (160) from Nature Coast. In 2A-2R Springstead will send 4 grapplers to continue the fight for the State podium. Leading the Eagles with first place at Regionals is Senior Dominique Nardini at 106. He will be accompanied by seniors Jonathan Dominguez (113) and Kyle Curl (220), and Junior Joe Gallo (138).
The battle for the State Podium continues this Friday and Saturday at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee. Good luck Hernando Wrestlers!
