Miami Palmetto Senior High’s wrestling team has three qualifiers for this year’s wrestling state finals. Sophomores Eysis Estes-Bronson, Connor Bonney and Drake Bonney have all qualified for their weight class. 

To qualify for the finals, the top four wrestlers from each of the 14 weight classes go from districts to regionals. Then, up to four top-scoring athletes from regionals go to states. State finals total 16 kids — four from each regional final. 

“This year, we have three sophomores that all qualified for state finals; it’s the second year on the team for all of them, and they are already qualifying for states. The three of them did all the extra work like lifting weights after practice, [they] ran extra after practice and they were always on top of being at practice; so, they were very committed,” head coach Anthony Fadell said. 

One of the qualifiers, Estes-Bronson, is going to States for the first time this year. This is her second year wrestling, and she is the only girl on the team. She is one of the top wrestlers in her weight class and gender.

“I started wrestling at the end of my eighth grade year when I would always see videos of the sport. I was so interested in it, and it made me want to learn more about it. The more I learned, the more of a drive I built to learn and get better at wrestling, and it’s just such a great experience to compete at such a high level [in] my second year competing,” Estes-Bronson said.

The state final took place on March 1-3 and the three state qualifiers competed.