By BRENTLEY ROMINE | SENTINEL STAFF WRITER

January 25, 2009

OVIEDO — Oviedo's Ray Rowland started wrestling a little more than a year ago.

Saturday, he won his first career tournament individual title, earning the 130-pound championship by defeating Winter Springs' Alex Curley in the finals of the Seminole Athletic Conference Tournament at Hagerty.

"I've tried really hard to get to where I am and I want to continue to go farther," Rowland said. "This shows that I'm working harder than anybody [in my weight class] from other schools and it feels good to be up to par with my teammates."

Rowland's victory was just one of eight titles won by Oviedo, as Joe Hefley (112), Stephon Jenkins (125), Chase Gordon (140), Lee Wildes (152), Erin O'Dell (160), Davin Morris (171) and Jay Taylor (189) all won individual championships.

But when the wrestlers took the podium to receive their medals, no one received a bigger ovation than Rowland.

"Ray is such an amazing wrestler, but his partners [in practice], Stephon Jenkins and Chase Gordon, are also amazing wrestlers," Oviedo Coach Rafael Valle said. "When those guys are your partners, it's tough to get a takedown in practice. After a while, you may start to think, 'Am I as good as people say I am?' We've always told him to believe in himself, and he showed it tonight against a very good opponent."

Oviedo finished atop the team standings with 238 points, 35 ahead of runner-up Winter Springs, which was led by tournament champions Alex Backer (119), Matt Nereim (135), Ryan Petro (215) and George Mills (285).

The Lions have won nine straight SAC titles. This season, however, coaches and players sense the team has a bond that was not present when the Lions finished third at states last year, snapping a streak of four state titles from 2004-07.

"We're very fortunate that this year's team is a team on and off the mat," Valle said. "They help each other, they have each other's backs and they've come together in a great way. We had 8-for-8 champions, which is a great accomplishment when you look at teams from the past and, oftentimes, not everyone comes through."

Hagerty's Joe Wagstaff and Lake Howell's Kurt Franciose established themselves as clear No.1 seeds for the district tournament, an important title to have when these wrestlers step onto the mat at Cypress Creek in two weeks.

"Anyone can get beat on any given day, but [Saturday] was a good peak for us," Jenkins said. "Our confidence level is pretty high right now and we're just going to have to keep peaking, for districts, for regionals and for states."

SAC Tournament
At Hagerty High School

Team scores: 1. Oviedo, 238; 2. Winter Springs, 203; 3. Lake Mary, 150; 4. Lyman, 139.5; 5. Hagerty, 95; 6. Lake Howell, 69; 7. Seminole, 54; 8. Lake Brantley, 35.5.

Individual results: 103 — Joe Wagstaff, Hagerty, dec. Mike Riccard, Winter Springs, 7-3; 112 — Joe Hefley, Oviedo, p. Chris Green, Hagerty, 1:08; 119 — Alex Backer, Winter Springs, p. Jorge Velazquez, Lyman, 0:31; 125 — Stephon Jenkins, Oviedo, maj. dec. Gavin Reilly, Hagerty, 15-6; 130 — Ray Rowland, Oviedo, dec. Alex Curley, Winter Springs, 5-4; 135 — Matt Nereim, Winter Springs, tech. fall Zak Gotay, Lake Howell, 25-10; 140 — Chase Gordon, Oviedo, p. Luke Elkin, Lake Brantley, 2:51; 145 — Kurt Franciose, Lake Howell, dec. Brent Basich, Winter Springs, 3-1; 152 — Lee Wildes, Oviedo, dec. Kyle Johnson, Lyman, 6-3; 160 — Erin O'Dell, Oviedo, p. Matt Muniz, Lyman, 2:40; 171 — Davin Morris, Oviedo, maj. dec. Corey Jackson, Lyman, 15-6; 189 — Jay Taylor, Oviedo, dec. Darren Spencer, Lake Mary, 12-6; 215 — Ryan Petro, Winter Springs, dec. Kevin Masullo, Lake Mary, 3-1; 285 — George Mills, Winter Springs, p. Jake Miller, Lyman, 1:43.

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