Niceville dominates Panhandle Championships (with PHOTOS)
By TRAVIS DOWNEY
Northwest Florida Daily News
(850) 315-4476 | travisd@nwfdailynews.com
CRESTVIEW - For a third straight season, the Panhandle Championship belongs to Niceville.
After placing a jaw-dropping 12 wrestlers in the semifinals - 10 of which advanced to the finals - the Niceville wrestling team cruised to a third consecutive title at the Fourth Annual Panhandle Championships at Crestview, topping Mosley 273-158.5.
Jacob Green (119 pounds), Lance Murray (145) and Nate Hartely (152) were each crowned champion of their respective weight classes while a meet-best seven wrestlers: Taylor Nixon (112), Dan Dunwald (125), Garrett Finke (130), Justin Dunwald (135), Brett Lamb (140), Haden Meyer (160) and Tim Peragoy (171) placed second on a day that was ruled by Niceville.
The Eagles' dominance was evidenced by one stat: through 35 matches Niceville had registered 30 pins.
"This is exactly what we expected," Niceville coach Morrie Geselter said. "There were some surprises in just how we pinned so many guys ... that's the biggest surprise."
That type of dominance, particularly early on, helped separate Niceville from the rest of the field for good.
Mosley, despite having a meet-high four first-place finishers, finished a distant second while Fort Walton Beach (116) edged Arnold (95) for third place thanks in large part to Andrew Winkler's win over Niceville's Meyer in the 160-pound final and Matthew Lengyel's championship run in the 103 weight class.
"We started out slow today but as the day passed we got more aggressive and a little more physical," Vikings coach Tobi Marez said. "We're making the right steps toward districts and hopefully regionals."
Choctawhatchee's lone representative in the finals made the most of his opportunity, as Robert Carrillo (189) dominated Tate's Michael Reynolds before getting the pin as the Indians placed 15th.
South Walton finished the night in sixth place with Howard Young (145) finishing third with a 3-1 mark. Greg Felt (112) placed fourth after going 5-2.
Crestview placed eighth as a team after having Aaron Dean (189) and Justin Mitchell (160) fall in the semifinals.
Green picked up career win No. 100 with his semifinal victory Arnold's Curtis Kuykendell, capping a memorable day for the Eagles.
