FLAGLER PALM COAST - Oakleaf High junior wrestler Kailani Barrientos added to her resume of impressive finishes from the past three years with a dominating four-pin performance to win the 140-pound title at the Flagler Rotary Invitational on Tues., Nov. 26 in Flagler Palm Coast High School.
Barrientos, who owns a 54-5 record for her career, opened with a 12 second then cruised to two more first-period pins and a championship pin against Hernando's Olivia Brown. Barrientos, in the Kabra Wrestling preseason rankings, was tabbed at third in 140 with Brown sitting at ninth.
Barrientos, third at 135 last year in Class 1A with a region, a district title, and a 24-2 final season record, led the Lady Knights to a 13th place team finish with 45.5 points with Hernando finishing second behind Flagler 197.5 -190.05 team title. Freedom was third with 190.0 points.
Also got performances from Maria Hernandez with two pins at 120; Mikayla Coleman, two pins at 125 and Dylan Fogle, two pins at 130. Oakleaf has former Orange Park High standout Jasmine Hecht as an assistant coach.
Also from Clay County, Middleburg finished sixth with 105.5 points with two-time 190-pound state champion Cheyenne Cruce, also unbeaten the last two years, getting her first loss via pin in the 235-pound division with Rotchiva Clermont of Freedom taking down Cruce at 3:33 in that match.
Cruce, who was rehabbing shoulder labrum surgery for most of the summer, held a 4-0 lead on Clermont going into the second period before getting caught for the first loss in 78 straight matches. Cruce was ranked second at 190 in preseason rankings to Hernando's Grace Leota, a senior, while Clermont was ranked third at 235. Leota, with four first-period pins, won at 190.
Clermont, a dominant wrestler in 235 last year, was third in 235 last year with a region and district title and was also a first-place finisher at the Florida Girls AAU State Freestyle and Folkstyle Invitationals.
For Middleburg, the team's depth, according to coaches Coll Robertson and Jamie Harrison, will give the Lady Broncos points as the season progresses.
Besides Cruce's points for second place, Middleburg got a third to Bradshaw with a major decision, 16-2, over Sunlake's Mia Parker, a sixth-place finisher at state last year who lost in her semifinal at state, and fourths to Sarah Walsh at 115 and Memphis Moses at 120. Bradshaw lost her second match of the day then won four in a row to finish third.
Both Walsh and Moses, state qualifiers last year, lost twice to the same wrestler with Walsh losing by decision twice to sophomore Cameron Lord of Sunlake, a state qualifier last year, and Moses losing twice to Matanzas R'Cardenay Michel.
Also on the mats, Clay High finished 29th with the top finisher being Vasheer Burke at 100 who lost her first match, won her second match by pin, but lost a second time against Middleburg's Lily Bradshaw by a 13-0 major decision.