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Jesuit fights its way to a championship

By TERRY JONES

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 8, 2002


TAMPA -- With his shoulder wrapped, inhibiting the use of his right arm, Jesuit sophomore Alex Enriquez won the 125-pound individual championship Thursday and helped his teammates to the team title.

TAMPA -- With his shoulder wrapped, inhibiting the use of his right arm, Jesuit sophomore Alex Enriquez won the 125-pound individual championship Thursday and helped his teammates to the team title.

Enriquez, second in the Class A state tournament last year, won his district title with a pair of pins, both in the first period.

The Tigers won with 197.5 points, followed by Berkeley Prep at 163.

"We don't have a lot of real good athletes on our team, but today was all about heart," Enriquez said about his team's performance. "They have a lot of heart and did what they had to do to win."

Joining Enriquez in the champions' circle for Jesuit were Alex Virgadamo (135), Clayton Thomas (160) and Garrison Sanborn (171).

Seventh-grader Sean Joyce was the first of three to win individual titles for Temple Heights, pinning his way through the competition at 103 pounds. Chris Rexroat (130) and David Craig (140) joined Joyce as champions.

Winning championships for Tampa Prep were Joe Christensen (112), Matt Drummond (119), Kevin Segall (145), Ettore Ewen (189) and Al Paone (215). Jamie Keogh (152) and Christian Richardson (275) captured belts for Berkeley Prep.

"We have a very young team this year with only one senior in the lineup," Jesuit coach Brett McGill said. "Coming into this tournament, we told everyone to wrestle with pride. They did just that throughout the day. We put 11 into the finals, had four champions and all 14 qualified for the regional tournament."

Wrestlers finishing in the top four in each weight class qualified for regionals.

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