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Land O'Lakes' wrestling program boasts four shots at state gold

 
Troy Nation wrestlers at the 132-pound class. He came to Land O’Lakes from Pennsylvania after his sophomore year.
Troy Nation wrestlers at the 132-pound class. He came to Land O’Lakes from Pennsylvania after his sophomore year.
Published March 3, 2017

LAND O'LAKES — It's been 12 long years since Land O'Lakes High had a wrestler standing atop the podium with a gold medal around his neck at the state high school championships.

There is a good chance that the drought could end this weekend in Kissimmee.

Land O'Lakes will send four representatives to the state tournament at Silver Spurs Arena: Jarrett Kinney (120 pounds), Troy Nation (132), Jacob Conrad (138) and Josh Spears (152).

"I'm pretty excited about this weekend," Land O'Lakes coach Eddie Marley said. "This is our best chance to get to the podium. If they do it the right way, they all have a good shot at being in the finals."

Kinney, Nation and Conrad all earned first place in Class 2A, Region 2, and all took similar paths to this point.

Conrad (40-3) is no stranger to the level of competition that he is about to face this weekend. Despite being a sophomore, he is a former state runnerup at 106 pounds as an eighth-grader with Tampa Prep. Last year, he competed with Jesuit, but failed to wrestle in the postseason after suffering a back injury.

Making up for a lost season, Conrad dominated on the way to championships at the Sunshine Athletic Conference tournament, the Class 2A-District 8 tournament and the Springstead Corey Hill Memorial Invitational in January.

"I've had a lot of different coaches and different (practice) partners. It helped me get better the last three years," Conrad said. "People think that I got lucky (in eighth grade). I use that as motivation."

Nation (44-3) came to Florida from Pennsylvania last year. Land O'Lakes marked his third high school in three seasons after he competed with two different programs in his freshman and sophomore campaigns. His experience and ability to adjust to new situations helped him to immediate success with the Gators.

Much like Conrad, the junior snagged conference and district titles and took first place at the Corey Hill Memorial.

Kinney (42-5) moved in this past offseason from Illinois, where he had been competing since he was 6 years old. The sophomore embraced the team attitude quickly, taking a leadership role in practice. The young grappler pushed himself to make the 120-pound weight class before winning conference and district titles.

"I realized when I got down here that I needed to step it up," Kinney said. "I am looking forward to doing what I know I can do (this weekend)."

Unlike the other three, Spears (42-11) is a senior. He has spent the entirety of his prep career at Land O'Lakes under the tutelage of Marley. Much like former teammate Jesse Seidl, who took third at state last year, Spears is hoping that his years of hard work will pay off with a medal in Kissimmee. It is a journey that has him confident.

"Jesse was my best friend on the team last year. We wrestled each other nearly every day in practice," Spears said. "When he placed (at state), I was proud. I just want to go out there and wrestle. I'm not that nervous."

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It was an up and down year for the Gators, but if all four of the grapplers they are sending to state compete to their potential, Land O'Lakes has an outside shot at a team trophy. The main goal is getting these four wrestlers to the podium at the end of the event with at least one of them joining the four previous champions in the school's history.

"It's always difficult to adjust to things when you get a lot of move-ins on the team," Marley said. "I feel like our guys are all peaking at the right time."