- December 25, 2024
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Garrick Schwartz won the 195-pound region championship. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Freshman Tim McLean was the runner-up at 106 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Freshman Carson Baert placed fourth in the 113-pound class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Kole Hannant, left, placed third at 120 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Tim King was the runner-up at 152 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Bryce Dodge placed third at 160 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Blane DeFord, right, lost a 6-4 decision in the 170-pound title match. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Marcel Gonzales, right, was the runner-up at 182 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast's wrestling team won its second regional title of the 2021-22 school year. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Garrick Schwartz holds the trophy after winning his weight class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast senior Garrick Schwartz was excited to win the 195-pound weight class at the Region 1-3A wrestling championships on Feb. 26 at the Bulldogs’ gym.
But the team title meant more to him. FPC cruised to the championship with 196.5 points. Oviedo Hagerty finished second with 149 points.
“As a team, we’re all brothers. We all put in the same amount of work. We’re all in the same room together,” Schwartz said.
Eight other Bulldogs will be joining Schwartz at the state championships March 3-5 at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
“He knows how special this team is,” FPC coach Zach Sanford said of Schwartz. “He’s played a big leadership role this year. This whole team is special. They don’t see individual. They see the team.”
While Schwartz and fellow senior Marcelo Gonzalez (second place at 182 pounds) will be making their first trip to state, Kole Hannant (third at 120), John Hald (second at 126), Tim King (second at 152), Bryce Dodge (third at 160) and Blane DeFord (second at 182) all will be making return trips.
DeFord placed fourth at the state tournament in each of the past two seasons. Dodge placed fifth last year.
Freshmen Tim McLean (second at 106 pounds) and Carson Baert (fourth at 113 pounds) are also heading to state.
“They’ve gotten better throughout the season,” Sanford said. “Every day, wrestling with guys like Kole Hannant and John Hald, you’re going to get better, because it’s the only way to survive in the room.”
Schwartz was the only Bulldog to win his weight class. The best thing about the title, he said, was the high seed he’ll receive in the state bracket.
“This is my senior year, so I had to push it up. A lot of the credit goes to Coach Sanford. From my freshman year to my senior year, he changed me completely.”
GARRICK SCHWARTZ
“This is my senior year, so I had to push it up,” he said. “A lot of the credit goes to Coach Sanford. From my freshman year to my senior year, he changed me completely.”
Schwartz defeated Jamari Chisolm of Gainesville Buchholz by a 4-1 decision in the championship match. He also defeated Chisolm in the district title match the previous week.
But to get to the final this time, Schwartz had to go to overtime to beat Hagerty’s Hunter Tate, 7-6, in the semifinals.
“I took him down early (in the tiebreaker round) and stayed on top when it counted,” Schwartz said.
For King, advancing to state for the second year in a row has been a balancing act. The senior is in FPC’s Fire Leadership Academy. His EMT training on Saturdays this year has conflicted with wrestling tournaments, so he’s had to pick which tournaments to go to and which to miss.
“I looked at how many (EMT) hours I could miss, and I picked my tournaments,” he said. “Because it’s a high school sport, it can’t be counted against you. As long as I don’t miss over 25 hours, I’m OK. I missed 12 hours so far.”
King won by a pinfall, followed by 10-4 and 11-6 decisions to reach the 152-pound final against Hagerty’s Blake Watts, who decisioned King 10-5.
“I really didn’t wrestle as well as I wanted to,” said King, whose first match at state will be against a wrestler who finished third at his region.
King has been in the fire academy for four years. He said at the end of the school year, he will assess his options.
After achieving his EMT and firefighting certifications, he said he could finish his associate degree in the fall and become a full-time firefighter and EMT. Or, he could go to college, and use his certifications as a fallback.
