- February 4, 2025
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FPC's T.J. McLean, Trey Twilley, Kevin McLean and Carson Baert all placed second at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Ronden Ricks (right) wrestles New Smyrna Beach's Merrick Miller in the 150-pound third-place match at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Doyvonne Leadon (right) wrestles DeLand's Joshua Folsom in the 165-pound fifth-place match at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Melique Joseph won a 4-0 decision against Oakleaf's Evan Brown in the 215-pound fifth-place match at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Mason Obama (left) wrestles Tocoi Creek's Nikita Chechkovsky in the 157-pound third-place match at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Melique Joseph (left) tries to take down Oakleaf's Evan Brown in the 215-pound fifth-place match at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Ronden Ricks (right) wrestles New Smyrna Beach's Merrick Miller in the 150-pound third-place match at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Melique Joseph (left) slips out of a leg trap in the 215-pound fifth-place match against Oakleaf's Evan Brown at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Trey Twilley (right) wrestles Harmony High's Landon Davis in the 126-pound quarterfinals at the Flagler Rotary. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast sophomore Trey Twilley was participating in his second Flagler Rotary Invitational wrestling tournament, and he noticed the competition stepped up a bit this year.
“There are a lot more good teams this year, and a lot of top-ranked wrestlers,” Twilley said.
Twilley was one of four FPC finalists, helping the Bulldogs finish third among 37 teams at the 39th annual Flagler Rotary tourney Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at the FPC gym. The Bulldogs did not have any individual champs, but they sent nine wrestlers to the final round of competition of first-, third- and fifth-place matches.
Twilley (126 pounds), Kevin McLean (113), T.J. McLean (120) and Carson Baert (157) all took home second-place medals, while Braden Dailey (106) and Ronden Ricks (150) placed fourth, Melique Joseph (215) placed fifth and Joslyn Johnson (wrestling against the boys at 106) and Doyvonne Leadon (165) placed sixth.
Matanzas senior Mason Obama placed fourth at 157 pounds.
New Smyrna Beach won the team title with 214 points. Oviedo Hagerty (206.5) edged FPC (200.5) for second place. Winter Springs (171) and St. Cloud Harmony (167.5) rounded out the top five.
“We usually cap the tournament at 32 teams and we end up with about 29 to 31,” FPC coach David Bossardet said. “This year, we had 37; we were pushing it a little bit, which is good. We want more competition.”
The tournament ran efficiently, Bossardet said, with the second day of competition ending much earlier than in years past. The credit, he said, goes to tournament director T.J. Gillin.
“He spent weeks getting it ready,” Bossardet said. “He spent the past three days on his computer non-stop. I’m definitely happy with how the tournament ran, and T.J. gets all the credit.”
Former FPC head coach Steve DeAugustino began the Flagler Rotary tournament in 1987, and he has been a part of it every year since as head coach, athletic director and now assistant coach.
In its first year, the tournament drew eight teams, DeAugustino said. In past years, it drew teams from throughout the east coast.
“We had teams from Maryland, New York, New Jersey. Teams wanted to come down here, because it’s warm (in January). But teams could afford to travel back then,” DeAugustino said.
Now, the Flagler Rotary draws many of the top wrestling teams in the state of Florida.
Bossardet was encouraged by his team’s overall performance. Freshman Kevin McLean will probably seen his finals opponent, Harmony wrestler Nathan Lyttle, again at the state championships. Lyttle won the final with a 13-7 decision, handing McLean just his fourth loss of the season.
Twilley will also likely see his finals opponent, Bartram Trail’s Mario DiBella, at the region and state meets. DiBella won a 5-2 decision.
“I thought (Twilley) wrestled pretty well,” Bossardet said. “A call didn’t go our way, and those things happen. So, we got to be able to take that guy down. That's what we're going to focus on for the next couple weeks, but overall, we ended up third and I'm not disappointed. It's not like, ‘hey, we're excited we finished third,’ but I do like the effort of the overall team.”
