MULBERRY — The Mckeel Academy Wildcats etched their name into the history books as they captured the very first Class 1A, District 9 duals wrestling titleat Mulberry High School Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats, who won all four of their matches in the tournament, advance to the regionals on Thursday at a site to be determined. McKeel will be joined by host Mulberry who lost to 48-36 in the finals as they finished 3-1.

"I like the idea of the dual meets, but they need to change the timing of it," McKeel coach Frank Olinger said. "I did not even find out about it until the beginning of January."

Olinger is in his second year as head coach. as he took over for Anthony Cerullo, who is now the head coach of Tenoroc.

Avon Park, who won the district title a year ago, split their four matches on the afternoon, while the other two teams Lake Wales and Tenoroc finished with 1-3 and 0-4 records respectively.

Mulberry, which cut the lead after every match in the final meet, was buoyed by a victory in the 220-pound weight class by Adam Albright.

"We are making great strides from the beginning of the season to now," Panthers coach Chris Dangle said. "We have a short turnaround as we wrestle again on Thursday, I just want improvement from now to then."

The Titans, who were hoping to win their second district title in any sport in school history, were short-handed as two of their wrestlers did not make the trip. Despite the depleted numbers, Tenoroc lost two close matches to MCkeel and Mulberry.

"Every tournament we have been in this year, we have been short-handed due to injuries or family obligations," Cerullo said. "It is like going to a gun battle with half of the bullets in the chamber."

Mulberry has one of the few female wrestlers in the state in Skylar Dangle, who performed admirably as she fell in her two matches.