- March 3, 2026
Flagler Palm Coast returns to the girls state wrestling championships on March 5 as the defending state champion. The Bulldogs graduated their two individual state champs and three other medal winners but return three state qualifiers.
Joslyn Johnson placed third last year, while Alexa Calidonio placed fifth. Juliana Mills qualified for state as a freshman. They all qualified again along with junior Alisha Vilar, who placed third at region after missing state qualification by one match each of the past two years.
“We're bringing four girls to the state tournament,” FPC wrestling coach David Bossardet said. “We brought four girls to the state tournament two years ago when we finished second. This group is very similar to the group we brought two years ago. They have their individual goals, and if they go out and meet those goals, I like our chances from a team standpoint, too.”
Calidonio, a senior, won the region title in her weight class for the third year in a row. She has never lost a regional match. She has placed at state two years in a row — she was fourth as a sophomore. This year, she is the No. 1 seed at 170 pounds.
“I do think Alexas is the best wrestler in that weight class,” Bossardet said. “I tell her that every single day. She's got to believe that. When Alexa is confident and getting to [her] attacks, I don't think there's anybody that could beat her. And when I say anybody, I mean anybody in the country.”
Calidonio pinned top-ranked 170-pounder Tor’Ina Rushing of Lynn Haven Mosley in the region final.
“I took her down in the first period,” Calidonio recalled. “In the second period she chose top, got four back points and I almost got pinned, but I didn’t. And the third period, I took her down again and pinned her.”
Winning a state championship would be amazing, Calidonio said.
“It’d be like a dream come true,” she said.
Johnson won a state championship two years ago as a sophomore. She is the No. 1 seed at 105 pounds after winning a region title for the first time in her career. She finished third at state last year in a loaded weight class.
[As a sophomore], I was the underdog and it kind of showed in my wrestling. ... Now, being in the room for two more years, having good wrestlers to practice with, I feel like I have the experience to go out there and win it again.”
— JOSLYN JOHNSON, won state title in 2024
“[As a sophomore], I was the underdog and it kind of showed in my wrestling,” Johnson said. “That was my only my second year in wrestling. Now, being in the room for two more years, having good wrestlers to practice with, I feel like I have the experience to go out there and win it again.”
Bossardet said he would never bet against her.
“Jocelyn wrestles best when the stakes are high,” he said. “I think a state tournament her senior year, the stakes couldn't get much higher.”
Vilar placed third at region in the 145-pound weight class. After losing in the semifinals, she found herself back in wrestlebacks for the third year in a row. The previous two years, she lost in the blood round. This year, she won that match to clinch a spot at state and then won the third-place match to improve her seeding.
“In the past, I felt like there was a lot of pressure and I went out and started doing crazy things, and it just made me wrestle bad, and then I lost,” she said. “It was definitely mental. This year, I had to regroup going back to the blood round. I just felt a lot better going into the match. I just knew I had to get the job done.”
Mills placed second at 110 pounds at the regional, losing in the final to Gulf Breeze’s Camdyn Elliott, who won the state title at 105 pounds last year. Johnson and Elliott had battled the past two years with Johnson winning a 4-3 decision over Elliott in 2024 in the 100-pound championship match. Now, Elliott is aiming for her second title, this time in Mills’ weight class.
“My goal is to meet Camdyn Elliott in the finals,” said Mills, who is seeded seventh and is in the other side of the bracket from No. 1 seed Elliott.
If Mills wins a medal at state, she will become the fourth member of her family to do so. Her brother Jordan and sister Mariah each won state championships, while her brother Tyson placed second as a senior.
“Obviously, Juliana comes from a wrestling family,” Bosardet said. “And she's kind of finding her way her sophomore year. We got her down to her right weight class. She started at 120 [this season], went down to 115. Now she's at 110 [where she’s] had some success. Juliana's going to wrestle as hard as she can every single match, and she's going to get on top, and she's going to try to pin you, and that's what we need her to do this weekend.”
Matanzas’ Cardy Michel and Briana Durry have also qualified for state for the second straight year. Michel, a senior, placed fourth at region and is seeded 13th in the 125-pound weight class. Durry placed third at region in the 235-pound bracket and is seeded 10th at state.
