Four more Wildcats to make history Friday

By JAMAL THALJI

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 17, 2000

WESLEY CHAPEL -- Autumn Yanchunis was the first Wildcat to make it deep into the post-season. The Wesley Chapel sophomore swimmer won a district title in the 100-yard freestyle and was third in the 50 free, qualifying for the Class A state tournament.

Now four other Wildcats will follow her into the school's record books. Four wrestlers will compete Friday at the two-day Class A, Region 2 tournament at Hernando.

Pasco County's newest school has gotten used to taking its varsity lumps this school year and, on occasion, has dished some out.

But to be this competitive, this fast? Coach Dave Alberts wasn't even sure if his team would win a match this season, much less send four first-year varsity wrestlers to the regional tourney.

"Actually, coming in here the first day, I thought it would take a long time to get things going," Alberts said. "When we won our first match against Clearwater Central Catholic (a 42-40 win Dec. 15), well, I thought we wouldn't win at all. That gave me hope we would beat other teams."

Hope soon turned into confidence as the Wildcats finished 7-12-1. Wesley Chapel lost to Crystal River and Citrus in dual meets during the regular season. But at the Class A, District 7 tournament Feb. 10, it took seventh with 67 points, finishing ahead of Crystal River and Citrus.

That night, the Wildcats' 114-pounder, Gabe Lopez, made it into the consolation final, where he lost 7-0 to Hudson's Luke Jurban.

In the 121-pound class, Bill Zeranski lost by technical fall, 22-7, to Hernando's Billy Woods. At 137, Pat O'Connor won 16-11 over Central's Mike Feola. And Jason Boyd pinned Lecanto's Terrence Hollis in 4:53 at 173. So Boyd and O'Connor, both sophomores, took third in the district while freshmen Lopez and Zeranski took fourth.

"I wouldn't say (placing) surprised them, nor did it surprise me," Alberts said. "But we knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. It was just two thirds and two fourths, and they had to wrestle well just to get that."

The coach said while his team's efforts pleased him, he was even more appreciative of their perseverance.

"A lot depended on the attitude of the kids," he said. "That was the one concern I had. Would they get demoralized? Would they think, "I'm not good at this and not going to be good at this?' The kids have had the right kind of attitude. They're paying their dues, and they're learning the work pays off.

"They realize now how much harder they have to work in practice."

Alberts was concerned with how little experience the team had entering this season. O'Connor wrestled for Zephyrhills last season, and Boyd wrestled at Holland Junior in Holland, Pa., where he grew up before moving to Wesley Chapel. But that was it.

"We had to show them how to stretch," Alberts said.

The future looks bright, too. Boyd already has his 13-year-old brother, Kevin, a seventh-grader at Weightman Middle School, attending practices. The team hopes to attract more middle school kids, compete in USA Wrestling during the summer and do even better next season.

"I feel real confident for the upcoming years," Boyd said. "I feel we'll do a lot better next year and even better the year after."

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