By Matt Mauney | Associate Editor
Osceola High (Kissimee) was dominant at the 17th annual Cougar Invitational wrestling tournament Dec. 1, at the Evelyn and Batista Madonia Sr. Agricultural Show Center on the Strawberry Festival grounds.
The Cowboys took first place at the 26-team tournament, which was hosted by Durant.
The 26-team field consisted of some of the best teams from Florida and Georgia.
Osceola scored 258 points as a team, well ahead of second place Camden County (Ga.) and Winter Springs.
Host Durant finished in 13th place as a team with 92 points.
Austin Haley, of Durant, finished third at 126, beating Palm Harbor’s Mike May by a 3-0 decision in the third-place match. Darrien Kelly finished in fourth in the 132-pound weight class, while Matthew Millard took sixth at 160.
Strawberry Crest joined the Cougars as the other local team to take part in the individual-bracketed tournament. The young Chargers team finished in 25th place, but new head coach Ryan Joyce saw some things he liked about the way his team competed.
“They’re starting to buy into what we’re trying to do,” Joyce said. “This was a great tournament for us, because it showed me our flaws and where we can improve. On paper, the results may not look good, but every loss we had will translate to wins later this season.”
T.J. MacNamee and Tyler Glenn had the top performances for the Chargers at the tournament.
Durant will be back in action Dec. 8, when it hosts a six-way dual featuring Bloomingdale, Chamberlain, Plant, Sickles and Tampa Bay Tech.