STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

RELATED STORIES

• Wrestling: Barron's Carter returns for Naples Mazda Invitational

More Latest Stories

• Countryside Golf & Country Club: Beauty, class, and a test of nerves
• High school football: Lely, Barron will be physical matchup
• Local Recreation Schedule: September 5, 2008

Share and Enjoy [?]

After a year-long absence from the high school wrestling world, Ben Carter is back — in a big way. Carter won a 10-5 decision in the championship 145-pound final over Miami Christopher Columbus’s Allen Pena on Saturday night in the Naples Mazda-Dodge-Chrysler Invitational wrestling tournament at Barron Collier.

Carter, a Barron junior, won the state tournament two years ago as a freshman — then took off his sophomore season to refocus. He wrestled four matches this season, then caught mononucleosis. He wrestled one dual meet earlier last week, but Saturday was his first tournament bout since getting over mono.

It has been a long, windy road — but that didn’t seem to matter on Saturday night.

Facing his toughest competition since freshman year, and competing one weight class heavier, Carter didn’t seem to have lost much at all — despite his sickness. He wrestled evenly through the first period, but his superior skill and methods were evident despite the 2-2 score.

“I was really nervous before coming out, because I’d been watching (Pena) wrestle all day, and he’s really strong and really talented,” Carter said. “But I just kept the pressure on, and in the second period I started to realize -- maybe I can beat this guy.”

Then, Carter took control, nearly pinning Pena, and taking him down time after time for the eventual victory.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “Now, I can just go home and chill. No three-hour bus ride.”

Carter was one of two Barron champions at the tournament — heavyweight T.J. Avery also won a 6-4 decision against Columbus’s Alex Wethy, who Avery outweighed by about 50 pounds. Avery won the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award.

Those two Barron defeats were two against eventual champion Columbus, which went 6-3 in its finals matches, including five pins.

Yes, Columbus dominated on its way to the title, winning with 283.5 points.

The Explorers started out the finals with pins on three of the first four matches, followed up with a win by disqualification for 130-pounder George Gulesian, whose 11-2 lead over LaBelle’s D.J. Timms led to frustration and Timms’ disqualification for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Closest behind Columbus was fellow East Coast school St. Thomas Aquinas of Fort Lauderdale, with 206.5 points. From 103-135-pound finals matches, Aquinas picked up the two wins (at 103 and 135 pounds) that Columbus didn’t get.

Cape Coral-Mariner led the Southwest Florida schools, finishing in third place, while Barron was the top Collier County finisher, in sixth place with 105 points.

In the only finals match-up featuring Collier County opponents, David Isme of Lely won a 7-5 overtime decision over Scot Connor of Naples, in one of the most hotly contested finals bouts.

Connor led 3-2, and then 4-2 after the first two rounds, controlling Isme and holding him down for three minutes. But then in the third round it was all Isme, who overturned Connor for takedown after takedown, leading to one Lely victory for the Isme brothers.

David’s older brother, Louga, lost a decision at 189 pounds to Ralph Major of Key West.

Naples Dodge-Chrysler-Mazda Invitational

At Barron Collier

Team scores

Miami Columbus 283.5, St. Thomas Aquinas 206.5, Mariner 132.5, North Fort Myers 111.5, Key West 105.5, Barron Collier 105, Naples 102, Lely 100, Immokalee 88, LaBelle 68, Golden Gate 60.5, Coral Shores 44, Evangelical Christian 36, Cypress Lake 31, Lehigh 20, Dunbar 13

Championship results

103: Sean Donnelly (ST) maj. dec. Mark Gulesian (MC), 13-5; 112: Kevin Gurevich (MC) pinned Tyler Muhammad (CL), 2:39; 119: Louis Nodar (MC) pinned Marcus Green (MAR), 1:47; 125: Jake Rio (MC) pinned Jose Gomez (IMM), 1:17; 130: George Gulesian (MC) def. D.J. Timms (LAB), DQ for unsportsmanlike conduct; 135: Gunnar Magliocca (ST) maj. dec. Levi Long (NFM), 11-3; 140: David Isme (LELY) dec. Scot Connor (NAP), 7-5; 145: Ben Carter (BC) dec. Allen Pena (MC), 10-5; 152: Jonas Mervilus (IMM) def. Francisco Segarra (MAR) by injury default; 160: Luke Weiss (ST) dec. Oleg Kharitinenko (MAR), 6-4; 171: Andrew Davis (MC) pinned Dylan Troianno (ST), 0:21; 189: Ralph Major (KW) dec. Louga Isme (LELY), 11-5; 215: Jorge Radaza (MC) pinned Louis Gonzalez (LELY), 0:34; 285: T.J. Avery (BC) dec. Alex Wethy (MC), 6-4

Consolation Finals

103: Brady Logan (NFM) pinned Serg Rush (NAP), 0:35; 112: Kevin Leferriere (EC) dec. Brandon Pellecer (ST), 4-2 OT; 119: Dillon Hazel (NAP) maj. dec. Ryan Uhre (ST), 17-5; 125: Richie Blasucci (GG) pinned Zach Talbot (ST), 2:48; 130: Fernando Alvarez (GG) dec. Ryan Slapikas (ST), 5-3; 135: Jason Soares (CS) dec. Nick Martin-Hidalgo (MC), 10-5; 140: Timmy Fromm (LAB) dec. Ben Menzies (BC), 4-3; 145: Robinson Merci (NFM) def. Jose Guillen (LAB); 152: J. Dellecave (NAP) no contest Paul Weiss (ST); 160: Cody Aydt (KW) pinned Dan Moreno-Koening (MC), 3:59; 171: Scott Peterson (NFM) dec. Harvey Borrego (IMM), 11-5; 189: Eric Bratcher (MAR) pinned Sean Hall (ST), 3:39; 215: Tommy Kleinmeyer (GG) pinned Bryan Westervelt (MAR), 3:35; 285: George Davila (NAP) maj. dec. John Dankanich (NFM), 12-0;