Calafiore achieves dream

By EDDIE DANIELS

LAKELAND - It was only fitting that a piece of Michael Calafiore's past stood directly in front of him as he prepared for his future Saturday night inside The Lakeland Center.

As Calafiore paced back and forth with a furious and angry gait prior to his Class 1A 130-pound state wrestling title match, Elias Rey of Naples Palmetto Ridge, who beat Calafiore last season in the Class 1A 119-pound title bout, was competing in the Class 1A 125-pound final on the same mat the Gulf senior would step on.

Predictably, Calafiore's glare turned to Rey.

"I was looking at Rey to get me angry, to build my hatred to win the match," Calafiore said.

It was an anger that began Feb. 18, 2006, and has festered. And after 364 days, Calafiore was finally able to release.

The release got a healthy shove in the right direction after Rey was pinned in the second period by Jupiter Christian's Tommy Bennett.

Then came Calafiore's 7-0 decision against Wilson Metelius of Miami Monsignor Pace.

After the official raised one of Calafiore's arms, acknowledging his victory, which gave him his first state title, Calafiore lifted both arms in the air in jubilation. Standing in the center of the green mat, adorned with white lines, he unleashed his emotions with tears.

"This is what I've been dreaming of doing since the ninth grade, to win state," Calafiore said, nearly out of breath. "To go out there and finally do it …"

Calafiore was one of 17 Pasco County wrestlers who made the trek to Lakeland for the 2007 FHSAA Wrestling Finals. He left The Lakeland Center as the county's lone champion.

Teammate Tim Longnecker (171) finished fifth, as did Hudson's Travis Tindell (285). Wesley Chapel's Eddie Ortiz (112) and Alex Turner (152) each finished sixth.

"It's only my second year wrestling, so I'm really happy I placed," said Ortiz, who with Turner became the second and third Wesley Chapel wrestlers to place in the state tournament. "It was my last match and I told my coaches I just wanted to go out and have fun. … I just wanted to go out there and finish the year like I stared it, having fun."

The tension and emotion of Calafiore's championship showed like a billboard across the face and body language of Gulf coach Travis DeWalt. During the introduction over the arena's public address system, DeWalt had both elbows on his knees and his hands clenched near his face as he sat along the edge of the folding chair in the right corner of the mat.

"So many things," DeWalt said, describing what was going through his mind at that moment. "My own success, my own failures and then you hope he's learned from the things you learned from your failures. I didn't want to see him fall short and he didn't."

Calafiore became Gulf's first state champion since Jimmy Johnson (215) in 1996 and the third overall. DeWalt was the Buccaneers' first champion when he was crowned in 1990 as a 112-pounder.

"I wanted to do it for Coach DeWalt. He always wanted a state champion," Calafiore said. "Three runner-ups and no champs, so I wanted to win it for him."