Wrestling | 1/30/2020 7:24:00 PM
LAKELAND, Fla.—Eight Fire wrestlers will be honored before the start of Friday's final home dual of the season as part of Senior Night festivities when Southeastern plays host to Brewton-Parker at 7 p.m.
Three of the eight have been with the Fire since the first season in 2015 and have seen the program go from 12 dual victories with five against club teams, to this year a program-record 14, with still three duals left.
"At the end of the day, we are not where we are at without those three," said Coach
Brandon Jorge of fifth-year wrestlers
Olson Delisca,
Ethan Owen, and
Jaaziel Santana. "They are really the guys that have built this team. They've seen it through from the good days to the bad days and they've stuck it out and have set the bar for this program moving forward."
It's a group that's made a combined nine NAIA National Championship Tournament trips and has recorded four All-American placements.
"The eight guys we have graduating are irreplaceable," said Jorge. "These guys have been here since Year 1 and Year 2 and it was rough starting out, but they were workers, loved to learn, and loved to be here and it has been a real honor of mine to be around them."
The final match at The Fire Pit of the season, and forever for the group of seniors has SEU hosting the Barons of Brewton-Parker. The Fire are 5-0 all-time against Brewton-Parker which includes a win back on January 10
th at the NWCA National Team Duals.
Brewton-Parker's top-ranked wrestler is No. 15 Lucas Nelson at 125, which sets up a great match to start the action on Friday night against fifth-ranked Santana of SEU. The Kissimmee native is 10-1 on the season.
Southeastern has won back-to-back duals, which includes a 32-10 victory over Cumberland last Saturday. The Fire won the last three matches of the day, getting a 4-3 decision from
Drew Bowker at 184, then
Blake Rypel's first win with the Fire just 20 seconds into his match at 197, followed by
Alton Meeks by major decision.
The Fire also have returning national qualifier
Kyle Kirkham back in the lineup at 165, where he's won both of his matches thus far.
Senior Night recognition will begin at 6:45 with bouts beginning at 7 p.m. Friday night.
