ORLANDO - Fresh from a second place state finish two months ago, the Fleming Island High wrestling team took little time off to prepare for the AAU Scholastic Duals in Orlando and the work paid off with a thrilling second place finish in what is considered the national championships of dual match wrestling.
“We took some time off after the high school season with a couple guys going to nationals in Virginia, a guy in Tulsa for a national meet and the rest of them back at the Warehouse just lifting,” said North Florida Wrestling Academy director and coach P.J. Cobbert, also the Fleming Island High head wrestling coach. “The state meet stung a bit and the boys were back in the room within a week to prepare for this one and it paid off.”
On the girls side on Friday, the Middleburg High girls wrestling squad, led by state champion Cheyenne Cruce, finished seventh in their division with Cruce maintaining her unbeaten streak through the grind of competing against some of the best in the country.
“She knows she has a target on her back everytime she shows up, but her work ethic at home is brutal,” said Middleburg coach Coll Robertson. “We had Wyatt LeDuc wrestle undefeated at 6-0 to earn an All-American medal for the team. This trip was the first for a Middleburg based team. The kids got a little beat up, but the experience of competing at this level is worth the trip. They can only get better next year because of this week.”
The AAU Scholastic Duals is a week-long wrestling festival featuring high school teams from around the country going head to head in dual meet fashion; teams versus teams rather than individual brackets, with pool play in the first days of the tournament and a gold, silver, bronze championship day at the event finale.
“It’s a grind,” said Cobbert, who was without his lone state champion on the high school team; Jayce Paridon, who wrestled just twice before leaving to wrestle in the All Stars division. “The team overcame that adversity and just wrestled harder to take up for the forfeit of losing Jayce. The team is stronger than one guy.”
For Cobbert, the addition of “add-on” wrestlers; teams are allowed to add up to three off-team wrestlers to fill rosters, was a coup of sorts with the wily coach adding two Georgia state medalists and one Oakleaf High School state qualifier.
From Georgia, Cobbert had, at 182, Georgia 7A champion (also 116-0 won/lost record) from Camden County High Ryder Wilder; at 220, Georgia 6A champion Anthony Lowe from Brunswick High; at 285, River Creel, also from Brunswick and a sixth place finish in Georgia 6A; and, at 126, from Oakleaf High freshman state qualifier Sebastian Bonachea, fifth in 2A.
“These guys added some firepower to our lineup for sure,” said Cobbert. “We also had Palatka state runnerup Mikade Harvey on our second team; NFWA Black, with Fleming Island High state weightlifting champion Kevin Reyes at 285. Both did well.”
In the end, with the NFWA Black team facing off against a south Florida powerhouse; Eagle Empire Purple, Cobbert got some outstanding performances, but fell 36-26 to take the runnerup spot.
With Eagle Empire hosting a plethora of state medalists and nationally ranked athletes, NFWA Purple opened with Matthew Newman earning a tough 8-4 win that was followed by a loss to Jordan Mukkaddam at 113 and wins at 120 and 126 from Shane Duhaylungsod and Bonachea to put NFWA up 9-6.
“Jordan had to wrestle off with Newman all year with Newman being a state medalist,” said Cobbert. “Jordan had a great week and put himself in the mix for next year.”
The early success did not last long as Eagle Empire got six straight wins with their own powerhouse lineup which included Miami Beach High’s Aaron Lanster, 3A runnerup at 138 beating Laird Duhaylungsod 4-1, Southwest Miami’s Lester Martinez beating Kaden Schaefer 8-3, and Camden County High’s Konlin Weaver, a 2023 7A runnerup and twice prior a 7A state title winner, beating Chris Chop 2-1 at 170. Camden County won its ninth straight state title in 2023.
“That was the meat of their lineup and our guys put up a good fight,” said Cobbert. “We’ll relax a bit then regroup and watch some film to see where we can tweak our practices. This kind of competition puts a lot of different styles on the mat that we can put into our arsenal.”
For Cobbert, who has been second now twice, and has been a top five finisher in most of his tenure, the National meet is a meat and potatoes kind of experience.
“It’s a grind but we wrestle to exact pain and punishment right from the start,” said Cobbert. “We had great technique tilting guys in Disney and that gets points. I know my guys are going to bring the battle to whomever is in front of them.”