Mater Lakes’ Bellon a force on the mats

Girls wrestling is getting bigger at the Florida high school level, and Carolyna Bellon is one of the state’s success stories.
Bellon, a junior at Mater Lakes Academy, is off to a fierce start this season.
She’s the state’s top-ranked girl in the 128-pound division, based on polling done by the Orlando Sentinel.
Among her highlights this season: A 4-0 record to win her weight class at the Clash of the Titans tournament hosted by University High School in Orange City, Fla. on Dec. 6.
Bellon isn’t the only area girl doing well in the sport this year: the same newspaper’s rankings have Jasmine Godinez of
Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School ranked No. 3 in the 106-pound division.
Florida has one of the largest bases of girls wrestlers in the country at the high school level, which is a major reason why the state’s governing body -- the Florida High School Athletic Association -- took steps this past April toward officially adding girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport.
For now, girls teams compete for an unofficial state championship.
Girls are permitted to wrestle against boys, but girls teams could be officially recognized as state champions perhaps as early as 2021.
That means Bellon and Godinez could aim for official titles in their senior high school seasons.
Bellon has been wrestling competitively for nearly six years.
USA Wrestling said she was part of the U.S.
Marine Corps Junior and 16U Nationals in Fargo, N.D. in July.