Lake Gibson wrestling wins 15th consecutive Brian Bain championship

Braves win individual titles in 11 of the 15 weight classes

AUBURNDALE, FLORIDA – Lake Gibson took 15 wrestlers to reach 15 titles.

Lake Gibson won its 15th consecutive Brian Bain Polk County IBT wrestling championship on Saturday in Tracy McGrady Gymnasium at Auburndale. There was no county tournament held in 2021 because of COVID-19 or the Braves might have been vying for their 16th straight title.

“First and foremost, next week the postseason starts,” Lake Gibson coach Danny Walker said. “So, I am glad we got out of here healthy for the most part. This is as close as we’ve had to our full lineup in a few weeks. We were just missing one guy today.

“We started out the year very slow but we told the kids they just have to stay patient because we are wrestling a very tough schedule and you are going to get beat up a lot in the process. Tonight the perseverance paid off.”

Lake Gibson senior Tito Solorzano (top) battles his way to his third consecutive Polk County championship during the 182-pound final at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale / Photo by Bill Kemp

Along the way, Lake Gibson crowned 11 individual county champions including seniors Hayden Whidden (145) and Frank Solorzano (182), who won their third career county championship. Both won titles as freshman in 2020 and as juniors in 2022 but were unable to compete as sophomores with the cancellation of the tournament.

“We will call it 3 ½. It feels good,” Solorzano said. “My career is finally coming to an end but I feel I have been pretty dominant in this county for a long time. It’s kind of like a little fairy tale ending right now with just heading into the postseason.”

Additionally, Colt Brown (126), Elijah Lowe (113) and Gaetano Tedesco (132) from Lake Gibson won their second consecutive county championship.

“In the third period tonight, we really wore people down,” Walker said. “I can’t say enough about our conditioning and cardio right now. We had good hand fighting today.

“There were times when we gave up early takedowns in the match but we wore them down during the match.”

Lake Gibson senior Hayden Whidden handles George Jenkins junior Julian Malo to win his third consecutive Polk County championship during the 145-pound final at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale / Photo by Bill Kemp

Rounding out the 11 Braves champions are Jeffrey Messner (106), Christian Fretwell (120), Quinyale Gore (138), Gianni Maldonado (152), Jace Brownlow (170) and Tristan Vann (195).

Vann and Whidden were both awarded the annual Brian Bain college scholarship awards in a presentation before the finals.

Also winning individual titles were Alexander Norman (160) Avon Park, Darian Gillins (220) Tenoroc and Nate Gabriel (285) Auburndale. Gillins and Messner were named the meet's Most Outstanding Wrestlers.

“My goal this year before I leave high school is to win states and make my mama proud,” Gillins said. “I just have to keep my mind focused and stay on the right path. My coaches have me and I have them, so we are going to win it.”

Lake Gibson won three consecutive IBT state championships from 2018-2020 and is fresh off its fifth FHSAA Duals state title in January, having won titles in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Lake Gibson junior Gianni Maldonado torques down on the arm of Lakeland junior Evan Martinez during 152-pound Polk County championship match at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale / Photo by Bill Kemp

The Braves will now focus their energy on returning to the IBT championship throne when the Class 2A, District 7 meet begins Thursday at Lake Gibson.

The top four finishers in each weight division will qualify for the regional meet. The state finals are slated March 3-4 at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.

Photo by Bill Kemp

Alexander Norman works his way to a win against Auburndale sophomore Adrian Castillo during the 160-pound championship match at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale.

Photo by Bill Kemp

Lake Gibson sophomore Jeffrey Messner executes a matt-return against George Jenkins junior Roderick Brown during the 106-pound final at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale.

Photo by Bill Kemp

Tenoroc senior Darian Gillins clamps down on the arm of George Jenkins senior Landon Walters during the 220-pound Polk County championship match at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale

Photo by Bill Kemp

Lake Gibson junior Elijah Lowe works his way to a 12-5 win against Lakeland junior Erick Vargas in a 113-pound championship match at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale.

Photo by Bill Kemp

Lake Gibson sophomore Christian Fretwell wins a 120-pound championship match against Davenport sophomore Tallon Widrick at the Brian Bain Invitational on Saturday at Auburndale.