Tedesco, Delgado, Bethel repeat as champions at Florida Girls Knockout Christmas Classic

Cleveland, Tennessee wins Girls Knockout Classic team championship

Author:
Bill Kemp
Publish date:
Dec 21, 2023 6:19 PM EST

KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA - Ladies first.

Three girls repeated as individual champions at the 11th annual Knockout Christmas Classic wrestling tournament Thursday at Silver Spurs Arena in Florida, and all three: Gabby Tedesco, Sofia Delgado and Mya Bethel are defending FHSAA state champions.

Sofia Delgado from Miami Coral Park wins her second straight championship at the Knockout Christmas Classic at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee on Thursday. She picked up a 140-pound title against Elle Kaufmann of The Lovett School in the title match.

The boys tournament will conclude Friday with semifinals slated to begin at 9 a.m. and finals commencing later in the day in a tournament that features team from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Tedesco, a Lake Gibson junior, was the lone Knockout three-peat champion for the girls, taking the 105-pound division. She also won a national title this past summer.

"Wrestling this tournament is really cool because you get to wrestle people from all over like Georgia and Tennessee," Tedesco said.

Tedesco finished 4-0 and won an 11-2 major decision over Maite Coutinho from Orlando Freedom for the title.

Katherine Stewart from Bartram Trail wins the 145-pound title match against Ciara Cortez from Sebastian River at the Knockout Christmas Classic at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee on Thursday.

"It just helped me see the little mistakes I made, and since its kind of like a national tournament, it helps me prepare and go in the room and train and do everything I need to do.

"I've been training super hard to win another state title. I'm in the room every day, even after church on Sunday. I only go with people bigger than me so I can get beat up."

Delgado, from Miami Coral Park, won the 140-pound division taking down Elle Kaufmann 4-0 in the title match. She finished the tournament with a 5-0 record.

"I love Knockout as a tournament just because this is the closet competition we get to the state tournament. It's like the highest competition we will receive until March for the state tournament. This tournament really prepares you because the level of competition is unmatched at this level until later on in the season.

Bryanne Kaminsky from University High School works her way to the 135-pound championship at the Knockout Christmas Classic at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee on Thursday.

"I was a little nervous in my semifinals match just because everyone was talking about she was a stud from Alabama. But I just wrestled my match and did my own thing and came out on top."

Bethel from North Miami won the 155-pound division. She picked up a 12-1 major decision over May Prado from Level Up in the title match and finished 5-0. She is a two-time defending state champion.

"This tournament means a lot to me and my coaches because this is the only opportunity we get to see what states is going to be like, or the competition for states. There was a lot of tough girls and a lot of competition.

"This tells me a lot about what goes on in other states and it opens me up to a different feel. I went into my finals match kind of nervous and shaky because the girl was pretty tough. She is did not disappoint but I had to get over it somehow. I had to wrestle through it."

Cleveland (Tennessee) won the girls team championship rolling up 153 points to best second-place Orlando Freedom (106) and third-place Hernando (91).

Camdyn Elliott from Well Trained gets a victory against Annalise Marshall from Ashley Ridge in the 100-pound championship match at the Knockout Christmas Classic at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee on Thursday.

Cleveland, just a third-year program, won its first state championship this past season and brought 14 wrestlers to the Knockout Classic, and six won medals.

Piper Fowler was the lone individual champion for Cleveland, winning the 170-pound title match with a pin over Salexa Lontoc-Ortiz at 1:50.

"We came here to kind of prove ourselves to everybody," Fowler said. "We had no idea what we were walking in to. We just had to come in and have faith in ourselves. We work hard for what we get. I was just trying to help my team. We knew if we wrestled our best that we could pull off the win."

Also for Cleveland, Grace Von Loh (3-2) placed fourth at 105, Senna Grassman (3-1) placed second at 110, Makya Parker (4-2) placed fourth at 115, Diamond Young (4-1) placed third at 190 and Madelin Zunin (3-2) placed fifth at 235.

Emari Brown from Harmony picks up the 190-pound title against Mallory Ladd from Enterprise at the Knockout Christmas Classic at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee on Thursday.

More girls champions included Camdyn Elliot (100) from Well Trained, Mariah Mills (110) from Matanzas, Iyonna Church-Ross (115) from Charlotte, Sydney Bridenstine (120) from Hernando, Zao Estrada (125) from Daughters of Zion, Marigonna Lau (130) from Glynn Coastal Wrestling, Bryanne Kaminsky (135) from University High School in Orange City, Katherine Stewart (145) from Bartram Trail, Emari Brown (190) from Harmony and Rotchiva Clermont (235) from Orlando Freedom.