Lemon Bay (FL)

Head Coach: Mike Schyck (entering 6th season)

Staff: Jason Davids

Lemon Bay has all of the pieces for a team that can make a run in 1A in 2022. Lance Schyck is a returning State Champ and will lead the way. The Rays also have State Qualifiers Justin Brady, Caleb Corridino, Austin Werden, Chase Alden, Brycen Warren, and Logan Kelly back and ready to make their run at a spot on the podium. If the group above can find their way to the podium - Lemon Bay will almost certainly push the 1A Region 4 teams (American Heritage, Somerset, Cardinal Gibbons, Jensen Beach, etc.) for a spot in the top 3 in 2022.

If they can get Ashton Tucker, Marcus Lopez, Ben Arnett, and Miguel Diaz through to Kissimmee this is a team that has all of the pieces to take the title home to Southwest Florida. Keep an eye on Alex Truisi and freshman Jack Oliver … they will look to make some noise in 2022. Watch for Lemon Bay to be a handful in Kissimmee in March.

“We have 8 returning state qualifiers, one State Champion, Lance Schyck, an up-and-coming freshman, Jack Oliver (106), and two wrestlers who lost in the blood round of regionals, Marcus Lopez (160) & Ben Arnett (220). This could be the making of a solid team. Having come off a Final 4 appearance in the State Dual Championships last year, our expectation is to get back there again. Individually, we have an expectation of returning all 8 to the State Tournament, have a repeat champion in Lance Schyck, and have multiple medalists. ”

— Coach Schyck

Ed White (FL)

Head Coaches: Avery Wilds

Staff: Walter Goodman

Coach Wilds and Goodman continue to recruit at Ed White … the team is small especially with the graduation of Sebastian Gonzalez and Keyshaun Spivey, but that doesn’t mean that the Commanders don’t have a few kids we need to pay attention to as we begin the 21-22 season. Da’vaughn Patterson won 2 matches at the 1A Region 1 tournament in 2021 and should be the Commanders best shot at punching his ticket to the state tournament in 2022. Keep an eye on Jordan Jackson and Joshua Ethridge as well as transfer Benny Lewis … each will look to make some noise in 2022.

“Our team is small but growing everyday.were looking to make a big things happen this year and cause a lot of upsets.”

— Coach Wilds

“Seed” meetings can be super fun and very contentious. So why not take a shot at our own seeds for the Florida Super 32 Qualifier coming up. The mantra or idea of being the “bad draw” comes from being unseeded or being put into an unenviable place on the bracket. Not sure what a bracket is - check out the wrestling 101 section of the website. In reality - the old adage of “you have to win them all to be the champ” is absolutely true and in a tournament with no team score … the seeds may not matter as much. Again the idea of seeding is to separate the best wrestlers from one another so they face each other later in the tournament. Individually this is important in this tournament because you want to finish top 4 (and qualify for early entry into the Super 32 tournament in late October) … but in actuality if you aren’t in the top 4 here you probably want to keep focusing on getting better because the Super 32 is no joke and the competition level goes up significantly.

So the seeds … I did the seeding based on last year’s state tournament results in Florida. Nearly all of the wrestlers are from Florida (there are a few exceptions and one or two that I noticed snuck into the seeds, but for the most part it is based on last March). If I knew of head-to-head matchups then I tried to adjust the seeds as necessary, but I did not seek out that information and freestyle and greco head-to-head matches accounted for very little in the seeds. So the criteria:

• Returning State Champ

• Returning State Placer - now in some instances a wrestler that finished 5th is ahead of someone that finished 4th … those small adjustments are based on what I saw in March and the few instances I got results since then (this is where someone will likely disagree with the seeds … and I’m okay with that).

• Returning State Qualifiers - “but qualifying in 2A Region 2 is harder than qualifying in 1A Region 3” or some argument. The answer is yes, but in terms of this seeding a state qualifier took precedent over a non qualifier. There are instances where a wrestler didn’t compete last year, but was a placer or qualifier from the year before - that was taken into account. There are also instances of wrestlers I’ve seen beat a qualifier at an event and I decided to place them higher, but for the most part I tried to stick with returning qualifiers in the seeds.

I am okay with being “wrong” - this is meant to spark discussion not create a world war (as some seeding meetings can - and have - become). Good luck to everyone competing and go beat everyone in your path - no matter their seed.

I did not seed the girls … the brackets are small enough that the majority should be (if time permits) wrestled as a round robin.

106: Top 5 are all returning qualifiers. I believe Albert is a returning Placer in 2A. Degennaro has looked super tough and deserves to be in the top 8.

113: Defending Champ Washburn and Placers (Placer, Dominguez, Vargas).

120: Defending Champ Morales with Placers (Tabor, Vugman, Taranto) - Poe (a qualifier) sneaks in just above Brewster who was 6th in 2021.

126: Runner-up Raabe, Placer (and 20 State Champ) Martinez, and Placer Garcia are the top 3. From #4 down to #10 has a ton of qualifiers that could probably go in any order.

132: Returning Champ Haase, State Placers Lanster, Romero, Giles, J Smith make the top 5 easy for me. The final 3 spots could go to any number of 2021 qualifiers. We included Illinois move-in Bazan at 8.

138: I put state runners-up Church and Theilacker as 1 and 2. Solis, Maldonado, Hernandez, Bellon, and Vadyak all placed last year. Many qualifiers to consider for the #8 spot.

145: State Runner-up Chapdelaine is the top seed. Soto, Hejke, and Balmeceda all placed … Hejke looked really good at the Georgia qualifier last weekend. #5-#8 could’ve gone to a number of different qualifiers/wrestlers.

152: Returning Runner-up (and ‘20 Champ) Couto is #1. Furman, Villalobos, and Moreno are all returning placers … could go in any order in the top 5. Hodge was super impressive this summer - but a 4 or 5 seed doesn’t mean much in terms of seeding. Last 3 spots go to qualifiers … I wouldn’t argue if you thought Ivory, Werden, or some other qualifier deserved those spots.

160: Best weight in the tournament. Returning Champ Rodriguez, returning Runner-up Garcia (and a double All American in Fargo), plus State Placers White and Deal. Georgia Champ Konlin Weaver … those are your top 5. I think I counted 12 state qualifiers for the last 3 spots.

170: State Placers Solorzano, Orr, and Dodge followed by Arizona State Placer Loyden. Ryder Wilder hasn’t had his shot yet, but he deserves consideration for the #5 spot. Rice had a good state tournament in 2021 and is #6, but I could see an argument for other state qualifiers for 6, 7, and 8.

182: Defending Champ Deal (at this weight) is 1. Cannan and Coons are both returning placers. Rocha and Grey wrestled very well at the 2021 state tournament. Josiah Jenkins gets the nod because 2A Region 2 is tough and he just missed a trip in 2021.

195: I’d be okay with any argument for the top 8 … Greil, Peoples, Mercado, O’Hara, etc. are all returning qualifiers. Greil beat Georgia Champ Landen Moss two weeks ago, but lost to him last weekend … he’s been getting the competition and that (for me) gives him the nod for the top seed in a weight that could go many different directions.

220: Sanchez is the only returning placer in the group. Most of the others are qualifiers from 2021.

285: Just 3 - so we get a 3-man round robin. Best way to decide the champ.