As a former wrestler and the father of three former wrestlers, I get very intrigued when I watch things happen on the mat that you normally wouldn’t see. For example, to watch a kid at the FHSAA State Championships get pinned in his opening match and then win his next 5 matches in a row to place 3rd place is not something you see too often. Well, that’s exactly what happened with Gian Ortiz, a Junior wrestler from Jensen Beach High School at the 2022-2023 FHSAA State Championships.
The story starts prior to the state championships in the beginning of the season at the Danny Byron tournament in December. Gian Ortiz was wrestling in the 113 pound weight class and during one of his matches his knee cap got stuck on the mat as he sprawled. He felt a sharp pain and he knew something wasn’t right but he also knew he must continue and finish the match. Ortiz told me ” I felt it when it happened but I thought to myself, damn this hurts bad but I’m finishing this”. He did finish that match but suffered a damaged meniscus, ligament damage and a dislocated knee cap and he would be required to sit out for most of the season.
As the season progressed, Ortiz would rehab the knee the best he could and opted to not have surgery. He told me ” I tried hard not to switch up my style or the way I do things just because of an injury, but it definitely made me more cautious and to be honest I was probably wrestling a little scared”. As a former wrestler I can understand where he was coming from when he said he was wrestling “scared”. He wasn’t scared of who he was going to wrestle, but rather what may happen to his knee every time he stepped out on the mat to compete again. Ortiz made a full recovery with some rest and rehab to the knee and was set to come back in time for the FHSAA District Duals. The doctor said his knee was cleared structurally but it was still extremely swollen and if he wrestled, the pain would be off the charts. But as far as being safe, he was cleared to compete.
Of course Gian Ortiz decided he would wrestle and during the District Duals Ortiz injured his other knee. He knew he was injured but he continued and pushed through it and wrestled all the way through the District and Regional Duals and into the State Duals as well. Jensen Beach won another 1A Dual Team State Title and Ortiz was a big part of it. But after the State Duals Ortiz was forced to sit out again, this time due to Covid, but it was a good time to rest the knee. He did not return to action until the IBT 1A District Championships. Ortiz placed first at the District Championships and advanced to the Regional Championships to be held at Cardinal Gibbons HS. This region is known as the 1A Region of Doom because it’s so tough. Ortiz won his first 2 matches and made it to the semi-finals where he lost to #1 ranked Solis of Somerset Academy. ” I was very upset after losing to Solis but I knew I had to come back and get the next best thing which was 3rd place. He came back and won his next match against Trejos from FCS but during the match against Trejos, Ortiz again injured the knee and wasn’t even sure if he could continue on. He made the decision to wrestle and in the very beginning of the match for 3rd and 4th place he felt excruciating pain and the knee kept locking up on him. Ortiz was well aware he could do some serious damage if he were to continue. He made the decision to medically default out of that match and finish in 4th place but still qualify for the state tournament.
The way the state tournament works is if you place 4th in your region you’ll wrestle a kid who placed 1st in his region. So, Gian Ortiz knew as soon as he defaulted to 4th place at his region he would face a pretty good kid from another region. He just didnt know who that would be. Sunday evening, the night after regionals ended the brackets were released for the state tournament and Ortiz would learn who he would face in his first match at the state championships. It was Mario Del Vecchio from Cocoa Beach, District and Regional Champion and ranked #3 in the state! Del Vecchio was a 8th grade phenom who had beaten just about every other ranked kid in 1A and many from 2A and 3A as well.
As the guy who runs The Florida Wrestling Room website and Facebook social media page, I was granted floor access to the Silver Spurs Arena for the 2022-2023 FHSAA IBT State Championships which were held March 2nd-5th. It was great to have a floor pass for an event like this because I was able to get within a few feet from the action and really get a close look. Prior to the state tournament, I was able to speak with Gian Ortiz and I asked him what he thought about his chances against a guy like Mario Del Vecchio, a young kid that’s coming off a great performance and winning a regional title? Ortiz told me he thought he would win the match but he also said ” Mario is really good, I know what he does and I have to wrestle my match”. He further stated ” I wasn’t too concerned with having to face a regional champ because I know what I’m capable of. I have to stay focused and can’t wrestle in fear of injuring my knee again”. I asked Ortiz what his family thought of his chances and he said ” It doesnt matter what they think because I told my father I’m not going to lose again”.
I was standing matside for the Del Vecchio-Ortiz first round match up at the state championships and I’m not sure if either one of them was nervouse but I sure as hell was! I know bother wrestlers on a personal level and I am very fond of both of them. It’s like when you want both kids to win but you just know that cannot happen. Unfortunately one of them would be defeated and drop straight into the “losers” bracket. If you lose your very first match at the state tournament, you’ve got a long road ahead of you to make that podium. The match started and Ortiz took a quick lead with a takedown. Ortiz was in control the entire time and was able to build up a very comforatble 8-0 lead on Del Vecchio with a series of cross wrist tilts. Did I say “comforatble”? Well, it would be comfortable against anyone other than Mario Del Vecchio. Del Vecchio is known for his freakish strength and his ability to cradle pretty much anyone he wants to. Ortiz knew this going into the match. He knew exactly what Mario Del Vecchio’s go to move is. Knowing it and stopping it are two different things. In the 2nd period Ortiz was up 8-0 and started the period on bottom. I don’t recall whether it was his choice or if it was Del Vecchio’s choice and he chose top position. Either way, Del Vecchio started the 2nd period on top. Ortiz knew that all he needed to do was not get turned and the match was his. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, normally it could be but against a cradle specialist like Del Vecchio one wrong decision and its over. Mario Del Vecchio was able to get Ortiz in the cradle and pinned him with short time left in the period.
I spoke to Ortiz about this and he said ” I’m not trying to take anything away from Mario or his victory over me, he’s a really good wrestler but going into the 2nd period I was up 8-0 and of course I know that he loves the cradle, everyone knows Mario is great with cradles but with about 15 seconds left my coach was screaming for me to stand up and when I did, I made the mistake of keeping my knee too close to my head and that was the one opening he was looking for. He slapped that cradle on me fast and that was it. The referee slapped the mat and it was over just like that. My 8-0 lead was gone and the match was over. I wasn’t stunned, I was angry because I knew better and just made a tiny mistake. That tiny mistake cost Ortiz the match and a trip into the losers bracket.
Most kids would crumble. Many would fall apart. A good number would not be able to recover from something as drastic as what just happened to Ortiz. But Gian Ortiz is not the average kid. He’s the type of kid who wants to shut you up. To prove the nay sayers wrong. To do what everyone thinks cannot be done. That’s who Gian Ortiz is. But to do what Gian Ortiz did is highly uncommon and you don’t see it happening too often. He would need to win his next 5 matches in a row to place 3rd at the state championships. It means he couldn’t lose another match over the next two days. It means he would have to wrestle whoever lost in the semi-finals. It means he would have to beat 5 very tough guys in a row who are probably all ranked very highly in the TFWR State Rankings.
I must admit, I was a bit skeptical as to whether or not Gian Ortiz could pull this off. I said a prayer for him because I knew what he was about to be facing. I made my way back down to the arena floor for the first round of “wrestle backs” where every kid wrestling had already lost once and if they lost in this round they were gone. As they say 0-2 and a BBQ. Gian faced Anthony Fondo of Wakulla HS with a 38-12 record. Gian went out and beat Fondo 9-2 to advance to the next round against Lemon Bay’s Jack Oliver. Jack is a decent wrestler and brought a 38-6 record with him into the state championships. Gian Ortiz beat Oliver by a score of 6-2. A little closer that time, but a win is a win and with that victory he advanced to the third round of consolations. This time he would face a very tough Justin Contreras of Suwannee-Live Oak. Contreras had 50 wins on the season and was looking to make Ortiz 51. Ortiz had other plans and went out and ended the match in just 0:59 seconds of the first period! Huge win for Gian Ortiz and I believe that win was key and gave him the belief that he could come back and place third. His next match would be against Nathan Varley of Sarasota Military Academy. Another extremely tough kid and a kid who had beaten Del Vecchio in the quarter finals in sudden victory overtime. Gian had to get past the kid who beat the kid who pinned him. Not only did he get past Varley but he did it pretty handily by a major decision of 12-2.
With that win, Gian Ortiz would now advance to the consolation finals for 3rd place. If he wins, he walks away with third place and a bronze medal from the state championships. If he loses, he walks away with a 4th place medal. Either one is very respectable but there was only one that Ortiz was after and that was the bronze. In his mind fourth place was unacceptable. It wasn’t going to be good enough. It wouldnt give him that feeling of redemption. Ortiz knew what he wanted and only one kid was standing in his way of getting it. Crystal Rivers Blaine Reed, a senior with a 42 wins on the year. A senior who had one last chance to place 3rd at the state championships. A senior who just beat Mario Del Vecchio to advance to this 3rd place match. A week prior, at the regional championships Del Vecchio had pinned Reed but Reed was able to get past Del Vecchio this week. With a win over Reed, Gian Ortiz would have the next best thing, a third place finish at the state championships. Ortiz and Reed both gave it everything they had and when the finals second ticked off the clock, Gian Ortiz had won the match 13-11.
People don’t realize how difficult it is for a wrestler to lose in the very first round of a major tournament and then win five matches in a row to get the next best thing. It’s very uncommon for it to happen and only those who have a champions heart can get it done. Gian Ortiz has a champions heart because he’s a champion. He returns this season as a senior with two healthy knees and I believe he will win that state title he’s been chasing. [Photo Credits: Carlos Ortiz]