Leota Three-Peats, Hernando Girls Are State Runners-Up

Over the weekend, the Hernando Leopards wrestling squads showed out at the FHSAA State Championships. The Leopards’ girls’ team tied for second overall, scoring 106 points alongside South Dade High School, and Grace Leota took her third straight state title.

“I am so proud of the whole girls’ team and coaching staff for this amazing accomplishment,” Leopards Head Coach David Pritz said. “In the last two years, this girls team has been state champs and state runners-up. This is something they will remember the rest of their lives. It was a complete team effort, and all seven girls contributed.”

Leading her squad’s impressive showing, Leota (190 Girls) remained a perfect 26-0 when she took down Countryside’s Cerenity Whiting by fall (1:42) in the championship bout.

The talented senior “wrestled the match of her life” against Whiting, Grace’s mother Cynthia noted. Coach Pritz added that her division-winning pin gave the Leopards enough points to jump from third to second in the waning moments of the state tournament in Kissimmee.

“I was so confident in [Grace] to not only win her third state title but to win in dominant fashion,” Coach Pritz said. “Grace is the most dominant wrestler to ever step on the mats in Hernando County and one of the most dominant girl wrestlers of all time in the state of Florida.”

Hernando’s boys also put forth a solid performance from Thursday through Saturday and logged a top-10 finish with 47 points by the tournament’s end. Despite the girls narrowly missing out on winning back-to-back titles, Coach Pritz was proud of both of his teams’ outings.

With 10 out of their 11 wrestlers who competed reaching the podium, as well as two of their freshmen boys (Noah Leota and Jeremiah Chavis) making the semifinals, there was a lot to like from what the head coach called “an amazing weekend” at states. The future certainly looks bright for Leopards’ wrestling.

Hernando was not the only in-county school to send representatives to compete at Silver Spurs Arena. As the Sun noted in coverage from day two of the event, Springstead, Weeki Wachee, and Nature Coast also sent wrestlers to compete at states.

Weeki Wachee placed 38th in 1A as a team, while Springstead nabbed the 25th (2A) and 35th (Girls) spots over the weekend. The Eagles took 35th despite only bringing one competitor to the girls’ tournament. Senior Jasmine Serrano managed to take third with her win over Viera’s Isabel Alvarez.

“Kaleb Johns and Jasmine Serrano had phenomenal performances,” said Eagles’ Head Coach Mike LaRocca. “Though falling short of their state titles, each had to wrestle back through tough competition to place.”

As his coach noted, Kaleb Johns performed admirably in taking 4th in his division (215 2A) when he fell in the 3rd place match to Middleburg’s Porter Loveland by a 2-1 decision. Despite the less-than-ideal finish, Springstead will be returning four of the six who attended states next season.

“Overall, I was a little disappointed with our performances,” Coach LaRocca said. “I’ve been telling them since districts. Records don’t mean a thing… everyone wants to be the champ, and the level of competition increases. You can’t slip up in any aspect of your game […] I pray that others see how they are preparing to make another run.”

Below are the updated results of how Weeki Wachee’s two remaining wrestlers faired on the final day of the tournament as per Trackwrestling.com:
(144 1A) Ricky Bowermaster (35-5) placed 7th after he won by medical forfeit over Mater Lakes Academy’s Bruce Li (26-9).
(157 1A) Diego Maysonet (25-10) also nabbed 7th with his win by 12-6 decision over Evangelical Christian School’s Joseph Conrad (39-11).