Pinellas: Dunedin leans on leaner wrestlers to win East Lake Invitational title

EAST LAKE — Last year, Dunedin collected just 181 points in wrapping up a third-place finish at the annual East Lake Invitational.

This time around, with 10 wrestlers standing on the award podium Saturday, the Falcons smashed last year's total and took home the first-place trophy.

Austin Prince (140), Tyler Smith (152) and Luis Agramonte (heavyweight) captured individual titles, and East Lake's 247.5 points topped second-place North Port by 27 points.

"We're really happy," coach Mark Allison said. "The kids are wrestling very well for this time of the year. We have some things to work on, but we'll get after it."

This was the Falcons' second tournament of the season and their second win. Plus, Dunedin is still getting adjusted to having a much different team than last year.

"We graduated a bunch of heavyweights that were tough," Allison said. "With this year's team, the light- to middleweights are carrying us."

Third place went to Northside Christian, which was invited to this invitational for the first time.

Not only were the Mustangs thrilled with the invitation, but the team qualified Aaron Hartman (103), Dalton Dennis (125) and Anthony Melillo (130) for the finals, and all three were crowned champions. Melillo, a St. Petersburg Catholic transfer, was not even a top-four seed, but he went 3-0 and knocked off No. 1 seed Alex Callahan of North Port 5-2 in the semifinals.

"I came in with the right state of mind knowing the seeds didn't matter," said Melillo, who was fifth at the invitational last year. "The week after states last year I decided I was going to start working hard, and I never stopped. It's already started paying off."

Osceola's Luis Tonge won the 145-pound title, Largo's Clarence Longley grabbed the 135-pound title and St. Petersburg's Jameel Bryant won the 171-pound title.

Meanwhile, Clearwater Central Catholic went 4-1 and took third, beating Sebring 51-32 in the dual finals, at the Swamp Challenge hosted by Land O'Lakes. Brandon won all five of its duals (84-0 over Pasco in the final) by a 403-0 margin.

Andy Villamarzo contributed to this report.