First Cozart tourney thrills organizers

Top competitors from around the state and nation come to Brandon High with some Eagles winning titles.

By TERRY JONES
Published March 30, 2005

BRANDON - Wanting to recognize the achievements and honors brought to Brandon wrestling through nearly three decades of work by coach Russ Cozart, a group of parents and coaches along with the Brandon Wrestling Club put together the Cozart Classic Wrestling Tournament.

The initial installment of what organizers hope will become an annual event was Saturday at Brandon High and involved 303 wrestlers ages 10-18 from more than 15 states.

George Berridge, organizer, director, assistant club coach and father of two wrestlers in the club, said he was pleased with the first-year results.

"We ... attracted some of the top wrestlers from other states and around the country to attend," Berridge said. "Our dream is to eventually outgrow the Brandon gym and move into the Sun Dome at the University of South Florida. Things went well. Our first match was at 9 a.m., and we left the gym at 6 p.m."

Although some of the Brandon High state champions were away for the holiday, Cesar Grajales and Rocky Cozart competed as well as other state champions, including Anthony Jorge of Lake Gibson, Sam Patacsil of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas and George Bancroft of Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons.

Riley Adamson of New Mexico also competed. The 14-year-old is the only wrestler in the United States to win the triple crown six times. The Triple Crown includes USA Wrestling national championships in Folks, Free and Greco/Roman styles during the same season.

Adamson won his titles in three consecutive seasons while competing at two weight classes.

The wrestler he beat in most of those championship bouts was Eric Grajales, a member of the Brandon Wrestling Club.

Grajales turned the tables Saturday, beating Adamson 7-6 in the Cadets final and 10-5 in the Juniors final.

Defending its turf, the Brandon Wrestling Club won the Kids (elementary school level) team title with 58 points and the combined Cadet/Junior (junior and senior high level) team title with 53 points.

Spring Hill was second in the Kids with 29 followed by Calvary (Fort Lauderdale) with 27. In Cadet/Juniors, Tampa Bay Chaos from Clearwater was second with 26 and Timbercreek (Orlando) was third with 25.

Outstanding Wrestlers included Brandon Wrestling Club's Ty Lucas (Bantams), Dylan Lucas (Midget), Clark Glass (Schoolboy) and Eric Grajales (Cadet) and Cody Ross of Spring Hill (Novice).

"Coach Cozart named one of the biggest prestate tournaments to honor Tony Ippolito and the Challenge the Streak Tournament to honor Jim Graves," Berridge said. "Now we are honoring him.

"It went very smooth. I can only believe those coaches will tell others, and many more will come down during spring break next year."

[Last modified March 30, 2005, 01:04:14]