Osceola County Claims Three State Champions, Fifteen All-State Wrestlers

By: J. Daniel Pearson for Positively Osceola

Capping a sensational 49-1 season with his first career state championship during a 14-7 win over Palmetto Ridge’s Demetri Zertopoulis, Harmony wrestler Shawn McCallister excitedly leapt into the arms of Longhorn head coach Vic Lorenzano – sending the veteran coach sprawling to the floor.

“I guess in today’s day and age, that’s going to end up on YouTube or Tic Toc by tonight,” a smiling Lorenzano said. “I have an assistant coach who is supposed to have my back and support me when things like that happen but he must have fallen asleep on the job. But seriously, that was a great moment for both Shawn and our program. He has played such an integral part in helping build our program the last four years and like Nelson (2023 state champion Nelson Toro last year), he grew up in our program and just got better and better every season.”

It was one of a multitude of great moments for county wrestlers during this year’s state championships that were held at Silver Spurs Arena. Earlier in the evening, Osceola’s Isfandier Sharipov pulled a major upset with a 3-2 win over Southwest Miami’s Dillon Smith in the 132-lb. final.

That win capped an incredible three days for Sharipov, who came into the tournament ranked eighth in Class 3-A in the state. Starting the third period trailing 2-0, Sharipov recorded an escape to close to within one midway through the period. And then with less than 10 seconds remaining and both wrestlers in a neutral position on the ground, Sharipov spun out of a hold and gained Smith’s back for a two-point takedown and the victory.

It marked an incredible tournament for Sharipov, who survived three close battles to claim his first state title. He won his quarterfinal match in overtime sudden victory, won by two points in the semifinals before edging Smith by one in the championship. “It’s hard to explain but through districts and regionals I just started gaining more and more confidence,” Sharipov said. “The goal now is to repeat and become a two-time state champion.”

Sharipov’s win also gave Osceola an individual state wrestling champion for an 18^th consecutive year but he would not be the only Kowboy to reach the top of the podium.

About 30 minutes later, Anderson Heap would win his match to join an exclusive group of Osceola wrestlers to win three or more individual state championships.

Heap capped off his sensational career with a 24-8 technical fall win over South Dade’s Joshua Aviles to win the FHSAA Class 3A, 150-lb. class—he joins Fox Baldwin (4), Cooper Haase (4) and Malyke Hines (3) as the only four wrestlers in Osceola’s storied history to win three or more state championships. He went 199-15 in his career and also had a runner-up finish his freshman year to go with his three state titles.

Haase celebrated the achievement by shooting an imaginary basketball jump shot at the crowd, a signature move Haase (2020-23) would do before every big match of his career. “I was wondering if anyone caught the reference,” a smiling Heap said after his dominating performance. “Coop (now wrestling at the US Military Academy) is such a great friend and influence on me I wanted to honor him a little after the match.”

After a close first period where he took a 3-2 lead, Heap absolutely controlled the rest of the match.

For all the second period and most of the third, he recorded takedown after takedown, allowing an escape after each one to build a huge lead. The match ended with Heap recording back points that gave him a 15-point lead to end the match on a technical fall.

The points clinched a runner-up team finish for the Kowboys (119.5) who finished second to perennial state champion South Dade (274.5). It was also 18^th straight time they finished in the top six in the team race and matched their runner-up finish in FHSAA State Dual Meet Tournament in January.

Although Tribit will have to find room in Osceola’s gym for the names of two state champions and a spot for the state runner-up banner, it was not all celebrations for Osceola as two Kowboys dropped one-point decisions in their finals.

Freshman Adaias Ortiz (51-8) lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Doral’s Christian Vazquez (42-1) I the 113-lb. final and senior Gunner Holland (47-7) dropped a 4-3 decision to South Dade’s Kevin Olavarria (45-6).

It was a particularly gut wrenching loss for Holland, who led 3-1 late in the second period before giving up a controversial takedown at the buzzer just outside the out of bounds line. He then fell behind 3-2 after allowing an escape early in the third period. Olavarria would spent the rest of the match moving backwards to fend off Holland’s attacks.

“My heart just bleeds for Gunner and frankly the blame for the loss falls on us coaches,” Tribit said. “We knew what type of match (Olavarria) was going to wrestle and we didn’t do a good job preparing Gunner for it. I was disappointed the official waited until the final eight seconds to finally warn him (Olavarria) for stalling, when it seemed fairly obvious that he spent the final 90 seconds doing it.”

Holland finished his career with two state championships (2021-22), a third (2023) and a second (2024) in his career.

In the addition to the boys’ tournament, the third FHSAA Girls Tournament was held at concurrently. Five county girls wrestlers earned all-state honors led by Liberty’s Delilah Betances, who finished second at 120-lbs. in the third edition of the FHSAA Girls State Championship. Betances, just a sophomore, finishes her season with a 22-2 record. Harmony Emari Brown took a third at 190; and Osceola’s Paola Ramirez was fifth at 115.

Overall, 15 county wrestlers (5 girls, 10 boys) from Osceola County earned All-State honors with top eight finishes in the championships.

OSCEOLA COUNTY’S ALL-STATE WRESTLERS

Girls