Strawberry Crest wants to show the state that its young wrestling program is a force to be reckoned with.
Few schools, if any, know what it’s like to wrestle with as big a chip on their shoulders as Strawberry Crest.
Training in improvised spaces and dealing with all the perceptions that stem from being a relatively new program, the Chargers want nothing more than to show everyone — from the school to the state of Florida — that perceptions aren’t always reality.
Of course, it helps that Crest just had six wrestlers make the cut for the FHSAA State Championships, following a strong showing at regionals.
Prior to regionals, which were held at George Jenkins High School in Lakeland, Crest’s coaching staff was confident that the team would send several kids to states. Six was the goal that head coach C.J. Gittens and the assistants had in mind, and the kids made it happen.
The only Charger to win first place was Crest’s first-ever state champion, Cullen Telfer, who is wrestling at 138 pounds.
Second-place finishers included Lane Keck, wrestling at 106 pounds, Manny Ramirez, wrestling at 113 pounds, and Trenton Davidson, wrestling at 152 pounds. The team’s third-place finishers were Harry Combs, at 170 pounds, and D.J. Tice, at 285 pounds.
The team took third place overall at the 3A, Region 2 meet, scoring a total of 136.3 points. This year, Crest trailed only Kissimmee-Osceola (158.5) and Manatee (140) in the standings. After last year’s 3A, Region 2 competition, Crest finished behind 10 other teams.
The 2017 competition ended well for the Chargers, especially considering the obstacles the program has had to overcome.
Much of the team’s training throughout the regular season happened in a slice of the gymnasium, which forced the Chargers to compete to be heard in the din of a room packed with practicing basketball players and cheerleaders. The wrestlers could also be found in the cafeteria, where they trained for regionals, which presented its own set of challenges: the wrestlers not only had to fold up and put back the tables before and after practices, but they also had to compete for time slots with academic clubs — which could kick the team out if practice ran longer than its allotted time.
The average age of the coaching staff is around 30 years old. Gittens, who is short and built with lean muscle, has been mistaken for a student several times — even being shoved aside from the mat by referees, which he now laughs about. But that doesn’t mean the staff is fine with being seen as inferior because of its youth, or with being taken lightly because of the “Strawberry” before the “Crest.”
“There have been times where we’ve gone to dual other programs, and we get called the ‘Strawberry Cupcakes,’ we get called this, that and the other,” assistant coach Will Terry says. “One time, we went to go dual a rival and they introduced us as their ‘little brothers.’ Being new, being young and not being a traditional power in this county, we are having to wrestle with a chip on our shoulder to make a name for ourselves.”
Rodney Dangerfield might have sympathized with the Chargers, at least at times.
But Gittens and the staff know that, in athletics, winning is the quickest way to earning widespread respect. And even if it takes a long time to reach the level of programs such as Brandon, that have seemingly been strong since the dawn of high school sports, all programs had to start somewhere. To have fielded a state champion, Telfer, before the school itself even turned 10 years old, is a start, but the coaches hope to build upon that in 2017.
That chip on the shoulder is, to the program, also a badge of honor.
After bringing on assistant coach William Knighten, who came over from Plant City High in the offseason, practices drew more inspiration from the military — specifically Knighten’s experiences in the United States Marine Corps. He, Gittens and assistant Abe Fernandez also work directly with the wrestlers on the mat at every practice.
In Knighten’s opinion, working with a young, passionate staff in a program looking to establish itself as a serious contender made Crest the right fit for him.
“Here, it’s just a different environment,” Knighten says. “It’s kind of that brotherhood that makes me feel like I’m back in the Marines. It’s that feeling that we’re all together, we’re all in it together and we all work together to make things better.”
Gittens will be the first to admit that, despite a 39-1 record, dominance at districts and a top-three finish at regionals, it hasn’t been an easy season. But with one tournament left to go in the 2016-17 season, he, the staff and the team want to leave Kissimmee on Saturday, Feb. 4, with something Crest, and any program, could be proud of.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
