Sports Notebook: Hernando Girls Wrestling Rolls to District Title

The defending state champions started on the road to a repeat with a dominant showing at the district tournament.

Hernando High’s girls wrestling team captured the District 1A-8 title on Feb. 11 at Anclote High, totaling 252.5 points and eight individual champions. Sunlake was a distant second at 162.

Senior Grace Leota, looking to collect her third straight individual state crown, had a bye into the final at 190 pounds and needed one minute to pin Sunlake’s Paisley Murphy. Leota now sits at 18-0 on the season.

Emerson Webber registered three pins at 100, taking down Central’s Ella Thodos in 30 seconds, Springstead’s Kayla Blohm in 1:00 and Steinbrenner’s Danella Rodriguez in the final in 1:00.

Kenna Bush went 4-0 to win at 110, earning 1:00 pinfalls over River Ridge’s Alexa Yoho and Nature Coast’s Celia DeLuca before beating East Lake’s Sophia Lopez-Baker by 16-0 technical fall and Sunlake’s Julia Brocato by a 12-2 major decision in the final.

Emma Bauknight was 3-0 with three pins at 115, taking down Central’s Kayla Pirolo in 40 seconds, Steinbrenner’s Kannon Reese in 1:00 and Sunlake’s Cameron Lord in 1:00. Daniela Espinal needed just two wins to take first at 125, pinning Steinbrenner’s Madison LaBar in 3:00 and Sunlake’s Izabella Kullman in 2:00.

Olivia Brown had a pair of pins to win at 140, 1:00 over Hudson’s Alexandria Groppe and Amal Mena Dahdal of Land O’ Lakes. Mariah Earl pinned Laney Goude of Cypress Creek in 1:00 and Whitney Dederichs of River Ridge in 1:00 for first at 155. Chloe Stinnett pinned Springstead’s Sara Zuba in 1:00 and Pasco’s Nevaeh Tedeman in 1:00 to take the top spot at 170.

Additionally, for the Leopards, Alondra Santana-Perez placed second at 130 while Nathalia Espinal took third at 120, as did Rachel Smith at 135 and Makenzie Eltzroth at 145. They’ll move on since the top four in each weight class qualified for regionals.

Springstead’s Jasmine Serrano was the champ at 120, pinning Steinbrenner’s Erin Casey in 40 seconds and Sunlake’s Camilla Alderman in 1:00, then downing East Lake’s Leila Memon by 8-0 major decision. Blohm took third at 100, Savannah Valle was second at 105 and Zuba finished fourth at 170 for the Eagles.

Nature Coast’s Addison Sawyer was third at 105 and Jery Giddens was third at 115. Weeki Wachee’s Naomi Loparo was third at 130 and Rayne Acevedo was fourth at 125.

Girls basketball season came to an end for Hernando County teams last Thursday, with Weeki Wachee and Springstead both dropping regional contests.

The fifth-seeded Eagles lost at fourth-seeded River Ridge 39-25 in a Region 5A-2 quarterfinal. They concluded the season at 20-7, making it the second-best season in the history of the long downtrodden program following last season’s 21-5 campaign.

While wrestling remains the only winter sport still going in the county, the transition to spring sports began with the opening week of the baseball regular season.

After Nature Coast lost its first game on Tuesday against Springstead, the two teams held a rematch on Friday with the visiting Sharks getting some payback via a 7-5 victory. The Sharks battled back from a 4-1 hole with a four-run top of the fourth, then tacked on runs in each of the next two innings. Garrick Waggoner went 2 for 4 with a double, a run and an RBI. Cody Wright also drove in a run, while Joey Vancleave finished 2 for 4.

Dalton Williams had a home run and three RBI for the Eagles, who committed eight errors. Andrew Ward and Billy Ward each plated one run on sacrifice flies.

Central earned two wins over Crystal River, starting with a 10-3 home victory on Feb. 11. Talyn Poole went 2 for 3 with a double, two runs and two RBI. Jacob Lugo was 2 for 3 with a double, a run and two RBI. Korbin Baskind drove in two and scored twice.

On Friday, the Bears won 2-1 at the Pirates’ home field. Both runs were scored in the first inning, driven in by Poole and Baskind. Poole went 2 for 3 on the night, and Baskind threw 5 1/3 innings allowing an unearned run on a hit, a hit batter and three walks while striking out 11.

Weeki Wachee improved to 2-0 with its second victory of the week over Lecanto, beating the host Panthers 6-4 on Friday night. J.D. Sammons went 1 for 3 with a triple and three RBI, and Tim Zammit was 1 for 3 with an RBI. Jack Strong threw six innings for the win, permitting one run on two hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts.

Hernando opened with a 4-3 loss to Citrus on Feb. 11 and an 11-0 loss to Bishop McLaughlin the next day, but won 3-1 at Citrus on Friday.