LAKELAND, Fla.—When Southeastern University began its wrestling program in 2015, the state of Florida had been without an NCAA or NAIA team for 30 years.
Now, it has two with a third on the way.
Southeastern will host Keiser on Saturday, and for the first time since 1986, two Florida schools will go head-to-head in a wrestling match.
"It's really cool, kind of surreal, and a huge blessing to get to coach in the town that I grew up in," said coach
Brandon Jorge, a Lakeland native. "We're going to have a lot of high schoolers out watching college wrestling in Florida, which is an opportunity I never had, so its special to be part of history."
The Fire are coming off of a solid showing at the Patriot Invitational, recording multiple wins by bonus points. Fifth-year senior
Jaaziel Santana won the 125-pound bracket in Williamsburg, and is ranked seventh in the preseason poll. The Fire also got a second-place finish at 174 from
Coleman Bryant, and a third-place finish from No. 4
Dylan Chatterton at 157.
"I was most pleased with the effort that we had," said Jorge of the performance last weekend. "It was our first tournament so it was a good gauge on where we are at with a lot of tough teams there, we battled and had a lot of freshmen and seniors do well."
SEU starts the season with its highest preseason national ranking at ninth, with six wrestlers ranked in their respective weight classes.
"Our expectations are high, we are striving every day to be national champions," said redshirt senior
Olson Delisca, who finished fourth at 125 in 2018. "During my redshirt year I learned to help others and become a better leader and get better at positioning and technique,"
This will be the first dual meet in Keiser history. Coach Joe Bertolone has a long history of success at the high school level in South Florida, and has a roster of two sophomores, a junior, and a long list of freshmen for the inaugural season.
Junior Varsity bouts will begin at 1 p.m. with varsity bouts to follow at 2 p.m.
