KISSIMMEE – After a rough outing in last year’s AAU Scholastic Duals Wrestling National Championships in the rugged big-school Community I division that saw the Oakleaf Spartans wrestling squad get one win in four days, a move to the Developmental Division comprised of younger teams, Oakleaf has found renewed success on the mat after two days of action. Matches will continue to June 28.

“I think the kids are wrestling great and gelling together with their teammates,” said Oakleaf coach Wes Champs, who finished Pool play Monday night in fourth place and got seeded into the Silver championship bracket for a shot at a 10th-20th place finish. “We got kids from Middleburg, Creekside, Miami and three from Orange Park High. They’ve practiced hard together and now are competing as a team.”

Note: The North Florida Wrestling Academy White team, fifth in Pool play with a 3-3 record, advanced to the Bronze championship bracket in the Development rankings. At 126 and 132, Storm Mercado finished unbeaten with three pins, a major decision and a 6-3 win. Matthew Ross has just one loss.

Oakleaf closed day one with a 3-2 team record with wins over Westerville, NC, (54-16); a loss to the Ohio Titan Red No. 2 team; a win over Land O’ Lakes Wild Things (FL) (44-33) and Bulldog WC (FL) (46-30) with their second loss to Brawlers Bird Gang of Pennsylvania (63-9).

“Ethan, Cameron and Jordan Mobley are all with just one loss with Jacob Moore losing two,” said Champs. “Unfortunately, Dustin Tollison of Middleburg High suffered a concussion and is out for the rest of the tournament.”

Against the Brawlers Bird Gang, Broughton lost by pin for his lone loss with Gustilo losing a tough 13-12 decision. Mobley was the lone Oakleaf winner with a 5-1 win with the Spartans getting a forfeit at 195.

Day two saw Oakleaf open with a 48-30 win over AYWO Rockets of Tennessee and a loss to Team STL Captain America of Missouri (42-33) to finish pool matches at 4-3.

Against Westerville, Oakleaf got wins from Owen Bronson at 120, Cameron Broughton at 126 by 15 second pin; David Parkes by pin, Ethan Gustilo by pin, Jacob Moore by pin and Caleb Dickens by pin. Broughton and Moore are Orange Park High wrestlers joining the Oakleaf team under coach Wes Champs and Tyler DeHart.

In their loss to Ohio Titan, Gustilo and Broughton won by pins with Moore and Mobley getting their first losses.

Oakleaf rebounded against Land O’Lakes with Broughton getting his third pin, Parkes pinning, Gustilo pinning and Moore pinning to lead the Spartans. A pin by Ryan Delgado at 220 fueled the Spartans’ close win.

Against Bulldog WC, the same trio; Broughton, Gustilo and Moore all dominated with wins a fourth time to lead the Spartans. Egan Gustilo, Ethan Gustilo’s younger brother, won by pin to open the Spartan scoring.

Against AYWO on Monday, Oakleaf won six straight matches after losing the first two to build a substantial lead with Broughton, Parkes, Gustilo, Lillian Prentice and Dustin Tollison all winning. Three final wins from Jordan Mobley, Moore and Delgado sealed the win for Oakleaf and put their 4-2 team record on notice for a shot at the Gold championship bracket.

Oakleaf had a final pool match on Monday at 3 p.m. against Team STL Captain America of Missouri with a 4-1 record.

Note: Team STL Captain America won 42-33. Both teams exchanged three consecutive wins with Team STL taking the first three with a major, a tech fall and a pin to go up 15-0 before Broughton, Parkes and Gustilo all pinned to give Oakleaf an 18-15 lead. Team STL then won three more; a decision, a forfeit and a pin to go ahead.