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Sports

Dunedin High Wrestling Grabs District Title

The Falcons had five district champs and five runner-ups.

It was no surprise that the wrestling team cruised to another Class 2A, District 8 title Saturday night, but the breadth of its dominance was unexpected. 

Coach Marc Allison said the total of 10 Falcons wrestlers who reached the district finals were two more than he counted on at the eight-team tournament. 

Dunedin wrestlers Alec Hersh (103-pound weight class), Shaun Shakoor (112), Marc Allison (119), Alex Lebhar (130), Kane Plate (135), Austin Prince (140), Chris Winowich (152), Kyle Goodnow (160), Mike Hogan (171), Robert Luth (215) all had title matches before a raucous crowd in the Dunedin High gymnasium. 

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Hogan, Luth, Goodnow, Prince and Plate took home champion medals. 

Runner-up in the Pinellas County championships two weeks ago, Dunedin won the district team title Saturday with 211 points, far ahead of second-place Land O’ Lakes Sunlake High (137 points). 

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Allison said senior Austin Prince’s 14-5 victory in the finals was a standout match. Prince lost to Elliot Morales of Wesley Chapel Wiregrass Ranch earlier this year, but avenged the defeat at an opportune time. 

“The last time my head wasn’t right, but I got my head right this time,” Prince said. “My double-leg [move] was the difference. It just came to me and that’s what I scored all my points on.” 

Dunedin now moves on to the Class 2A, Region 2 finals on Friday and Saturday at South Florida Community College in Sebring. 

It’s known as one of the toughest regions in the state, per head coach Allison, featuring traditional wrestling powerhouses Springstead, Lake Gibson and Oveido. 

Dunedin advanced from the region last year and finished fourth at the state tournament. 

“I know this much, if you make it out of our region to the state tournament, then you’ve got a great chance to medal,” Allison said. “I knew we had a good opportunity to put eight in the [district] finals, and we got 10. So that’s a real good sign of things to come.”

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