Riverdale alum Sentes makes difference for SWFL wrestlers
It had become tradition over the last few years for Scotti Sentes, a four-time FHSAA wrestling champion at Riverdale High and two-time NCAA All-American at Central Michigan, to give back to the wrestling community in Southwest Florida.
That’s why the 27-year-old was back at Riverdale on Tuesday, teaching young athletes ways to succeed on the mat. Did they know that Sentes won his last 140 matches in high school, or that as an eighth-grader with the Raiders he finished second in the state?
Probably not, but over the last three years — at the request of his former coach Kris Hayward — Sentes had made the trip back to Fort Myers to coach young athletes inside the new Raiders wrestling room, built just a few years earlier to develop a new generation of wrestlers at the school.
“It’s nice to give something back to Florida wrestling,” said Sentes, hired recently as an assistant wrestling coach at Campbell University in St. Buies Creek, North Carolina. “It’s my hometown. Wrestling has been a big gift for me. And in my time, there were always Florida wrestlers coming back.”
Over the last three years, Hayward has made sure to continue that trend. Clinics at Riverdale have diversified over that time with the addition of the wrestling facility, with more resources and supporters donating money to bring high-caliber coaches to the mat.
This summer alone, as many as four Division I coaches will host clinics at Riverdale, including coaches from Arizona State, Southern Illinois and Ohio State University.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Raiders brought in their first former Olympian, hosting Buckeyes associate wrestling coach Lou Rosselli, a member of the USA Olympic team in 1996 and former coach of the USA World Freestyle Team at the 2006-07 World Championships.
Wrestlers from Riverdale, Lemon Bay, Wellington, Cypress Lake, Charlotte, Mariner, Palmetto Ridge, Naples and LaBelle took instruction from college coaches over the last four days at Riverdale.
But as valuable as the event was for athletes, Hayward said, high school coaches also took away key details from Sentes and Rosselli.
“It helps the coaches,” Hayward said. “It helps us learn new techniques in what’s being taught at upper levels.”
Coaches from Palm Beach, Wellington, Venice and Cypress Lake oversaw the clinic on Tuesday. Many encouraged their young wrestlers to get off the couch and train in the room, despite how hard that may be in the summer.
“For the kids to meet the superstars of amateur wrestling, that’s pretty cool,” Hayward said. “They’re tired of hearing my voice all the time.”
Sentes, a Lee County Athletic Conference Hall of Famer, presented a local success story. After winning four straight individual state championships and one team title with the Raiders, he went on to star at Central Michigan, where he became a two-time All-American.
He joined the coaching ranks soon after and joined the staff at California Polytechnic State University for three seasons, helping the Mustangs put on their first outdoor wrestling match. This year Sentes starts a new position at Campbell University.
On Monday and Tuesday, he said he tried to instill various techniques to wrestlers.
“Certain things worked for me,” Sentes said. “As a coach, I have to look at the 35-40 guys on the roster and see what makes them tick individually. What technique is best for them? Someone who is 6-foot will have a different technique than a guy who is 5-foot-5. For that, it’s figuring out how to get the most of specific individuals.”
Cypress Lake coach Paul Rothenberg feels the clinics provide a great resource for local wrestlers.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to learn from guys that are at the highest level in college and that have wrestled at that level, who have been successful,” he said. “Guys like Scotti, who have come from the same environment that they have. They see that, and for some of these young guys, they can say, ‘I can be like him.’"