The art of grappling consists of throws, trips, sweeps, clinches, ground fighting, submission holds and takedowns.
Renzo Cooligan has become one of the best in the world in his age group using those skills in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The Hagerty High School junior has won back-to-back No-Gi World Championships and earned purple-belt status (two steps below a prestigious black belt).
And now, Cooligan is carrying those grappling skills into another sport in his first full year of high school wrestling. He quickly made a huge impact.
He has won 30 of the 33 his wrestling matches and is ranked by Kabrawrestling.com as the No. 1 heavyweight in Class 3A. That weight class has a 285-pound limit. Only one of the losses has come against a wrestler from an FHSAA team. That was Suwannee senior Holden Corbin, another highly ranked wrestler, in the prestigious Knockout Christmas Classic at Osceola High School.
Cooligan is a home-school student but his transition to high school competition was fairly seamless.
“I felt like I fit right in,” Cooligan said. “The coaches and my teammates have all been very welcoming.”
Cooligan is one of three Orlando-area No. 1-ranked wrestlers. His teammate Nikolas Blake (157 pounds) and Lake Mary’s Grady Isaacs (215) are the others.
One of Cooligan’s bigger wins came last weekend at the 40th annual Flagler Rotary Invitational. He pinned DeLand junior Gerald Logan, who is the second-ranked 3A heavyweight.
“He’s such a great kid who’s very coachable,” Hagerty coach Scotty Diaz said of Cooligan. “His Jiu Jitsu background really helps in wrestling.”
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Besides his success as a Jiu Jitsu competitor, Cooligan is a youth instructor at Team Renzo Gracie in Orlando, which was founded by his father, Pat Cooligan, a fourth degree black belt.
Pat Cooligan owns multiple Renzo Gracie academies, which are named after his mentor and master instructor, one of the many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners in the legendary Gracie family. Renzo won multiple BJJ titles in Brazil and fought as a professional Mixed Martial Arts in the UFC, Pride Fighting and other organizations.
And yes, Pat named his son after Gracie. So, it’s not a shock that the newcomer in the wrestling ranks knows how to gather knowledge like a sponge.
“I just listen to my coaches and try to stay humble,” Renzo Cooligan said. “I have 10 years of experience in Jiu Jitsu, but it’s 100% about wrestling after the ref blows the whistle.”
Cooligan scored three more wins to claim the 285 championship in the Seminole Athletic Conference tournament last weekend.
Hagerty’s Renzo Cooligan, right, wrestles Flagler Palm Coast’s Aiden Korth during the FHSAA Wrestling Dual Meet Championships at Osceola High School in Kissimmee last month. Cooligan won the match and is the No. 1 ranked heavyweight in Class 3A. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
