Josie Kropfl – Mustangs Ahead
(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) – The Lakewood Ranch High School (LRHS) girls, junior varsity (JV), and varsity (V) boys wrestling teams have had a successful start to the season.
The JV boys brought home the first trophy of the season in the Mulberry Kickoff.
They won their pool after beating Ridge Community 44-36, Avon Park 48-23, and Kathleen Senior 54-30. They then won the entire tournament by defeating Mulberry 48-35 and Lake Region 53-26.
The girls and JV boys began on Nov. 22, at Palmetto High School in the Preseason Tournament where they went up against Parrish, Tampa Jesuit, Braden River and Strawberry Crest High Schools.
Mustang girls and JV boys Coach Nate Lancaster described it as a “good beginning with many positives.”
Some highlights from the tournament included -
Aaron Rodriguez, Casey Coons, Jeremiah Martinez-Lazo, Ricardo Rengifo, Shawn Maestre, and Mason Giunta going undefeated for the day.
Match of the day was given to Tristan Sheffield versus state qualifier and top 15 state ranked Dana Law from Palmetto.
Other stand-out Mustangs include Anna Chop, Sophia Pereira, Lani Pace, Daxton Martin, Nick, Tristan Sheffield, Cannon Thacker.
On Nov. 29 the girls competed in the Ladies of the Ring at Parish High School.
They scored 10th as a team overall, with 43 points.
Top scorers include Francesca Bisordi with 1st at 155, Vanessa Rodriguez-Gallo with 3rd at 155, and Livia Zamperlini-Ramos 5th at 135.
Additionally, Anna Chop, Ava Bell, Bailey Loring, Sophia Pereira, and Zamperlini-Ramos played in their first ever matches.
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Lancaster explained that “each wrestler improved with each match they wrestled” and he is excited to watch these girls “raise some eyebrows this year.”
Last the girls and junior varsity boys participated on Dec. 1 in the Palmetto Tiger Scramble.
For the girls, Sophia Pereira wrestled hard, and earned her first win of the season, as well as the match of the day. She wrestled in a back-and-forth match against her opponent from Sarasota Riverview, where she won 10-5.
Ed Grayson, only being cleared to wrestle two weeks ago, brought a hard-earned win for the boys, where he wrestled and won his first match ever against his opponent from Manatee High School.