News Page
Cougar boys four-peat, Taylor girls dominate at district
By Nick Georgandis
Sports Editor 2/8/05
While the national media wasted the early part of this week pontificating whether the New England Patriots were worthy of the ‘D' word, no such debate could be made in Katy ISD wrestling.
The Cinco Ranch boys have secured their dynasty.
They did so Saturday by nearly the narrowest of margins, squeaking by Strake Jesuit by just 3-and-1/2 points to secure the District 21-5A crown at Mayde Creek High School, their fourth straight championship.
On the flip side of the mat, the Taylor girls won their third district title in the past five years by a wide margin with five individual titles in all.
The top two finishers in each weight class advance to this weekend's Region III meet at Allen High School. From there, the top four in each weight class head to the state meet Feb. 26-27 in Austin.
The boys' race came right down to cases as just 11 points separated the Cougars, Crusaders and Katy Tigers entering the championship matches.
Katy made up ground in a hurry as Thomas Glenn (103 pounds) and Joe Grayson (112) won the first two boys' titles of the day over opponents from Cinco Ranch and Strake, but the Cougars biggest weapons were yet to come.
Former 103-pound state champion Jamie Sheets brought home the Cougars' first individual title of the day at 125 pounds when Strake's Justin Casino injury defaulted.
Three weight classes later, the Cougars started a string of four straight victories that would ultimately provide them the championship.
It started at 145 pounds with Jim Benavides. Already 40-0 on the year, Benavides led the Cougar charge when he pinned Katy's Rollie Williams with 32 seconds left in the third period, already ahead 13-13 on the score board.
Cougar Andrew Vasquez followed with the most dominating performance of the title round, extending his personal record to 37-4 when he pinned Taylor's Mike Wendt with 1:18 to go in the first period.
The run was far from over for the Cougars boys. At 160 pounds, Cas Roman got a quick lead on Taylor's Thomas Wanja with a takedown just 12 seconds into the match.
He steadily built his lead and won 16-6 to give the Cougars three straight district champions. Roman improved to 45-1 on the year.
Josh Ruland proceeded to make it four straight titles for Cinco Ranch as he gutted out a tough 9-7 victory over Taylor's Joey Depew. Ruland led 7-3 going into the final two minutes and had to hang on as Depew nearly mounted a furious comeback.
For all Cinco Ranch's efforts, the Cougars still had to watch and wait. Strake Jesuit narrowed the lead precariously when Bill Sommers defeated Katy's Alex Slack 7-2 in the 180-pound finals.
The Crusaders then cut the gap even more as Strake's Jon Schubert defeated Cinco Ranch's Andrew Redmond 13-8 at 189 pounds.
Redmond led early with a pair of takedowns in the first period giving him a 4-1 lead, but Schubert responded in kind to take a 5-4 advantage heading for the final period.
Redmond tied the amtch at 5-5, but could never pull even again, with a pair of takedowns in the final 55 seconds by the Crusader sealing the victory.
While Redmond was the last Cougar wrestling in the championship bracket, he was not their last ally. Although the 215-pound opponent of Crusader Pat Sommers would not be caught dead wearing maroon, he still aided the Cinco Ranch cause greatly in the final of his event.
Katy's James Aston, seeking to become the first wrestler in UIL history to win the state title in three straight years in three different weight classes, manhandled Sommers 17-2 to remain undefeated this year and effectively seal Cinco Ranch's title.
Aston actually competed in three matches on the day after a season full of forfeits and pullouts. He did not seem rusty, with three victories by a combined count of 43-5.
Strake Jesuit made the final score as narrow as it was by virtue of Mike Nijoka's 5-1 victory over Taylor's Jarvis DeVaughn in the 275-pound class, but it was the Cougars taking the top step of the awards stand and turning to applaud head coach Bill Dushane as he was named 21-5A Coach of the Year.
While Aston was a no-brainer as 21-5A Outstanding Male Heavyweight Wrestler, Katy's Thomas Glenn was a nice surprise as the Outstanding Male Lightweight. Glenn, just a sophomore, defeated Mayde Creek's Adam Peterson in the semifinals at 103 pounds, then took on Cinco Ranch's Brad Bartholomew in the finals.
Ahead 4-2, Glenn sealed the title via a takedown with 1:05 remaining.
The Taylor girls easily outpaced the competition with 127 points. Cinco Ranch took second with 73, nipping Katy by one (72). The Oustanding Female Wrestler for 21-5A was no surprise, her story all year has been an impressive one with yet another chapter added on Saturday.
Mayde Creek senior Sara Cevallos may be the only female member of the Ram wrestling squad, but she had plenty of supporters in the crowd Saturday as she duked it out in the finals with Cinco Ranch senior Haley Hale for the 119-pound title.
A dramatic takedown spurred Hale to a 4-2 lead after two periods, but Cevallos rallied to lead 6-5. Like a scene out of a movie, Hale scored with just three seconds left on the clock to force a sudden-death overtime frame.
There, Cevallos worked her magic with a takedown to notch the 8-6 win for the district crown.
Taylor freshman Heather Manhardt was the only competitor at 95 pounds and advanced to the regionals unopposed.
Only two competitors signed up at 102 pounds, but the final was well worth the wait as Mustang freshman Courtney Hole edged Cinco Ranch's Darlene Weeks 10-8.
Taylor made it three wins in three categories as junior Lara Hamilton, defending state champion at 102 pounds, defeated Cinco's Tabitha Wilson 7-5 to win the 119-pound championship.
At 128 pounds, Cinco Ranch's girls scored their first gold medal of the day thanks to senior Rachel Vasquez. Vasquez built a 5-1 lead over Taylor senior Jamie Gulley, then had to hold on for a 7-5 decision.
The 138-pound finale ended before its time and badly for Katy's Alex Bradshaw, who had to quit via injury in the second round after hurting her ankle with the score knotted at three. Taylor junior Emily Marlowe took the victory.
The girls' 148-pound title match was the quickest of the day as Taylor sophomore Venus Barron pinned Cinco Ranch's Kristen Williams just 73 seconds into the match.
The Katy Tigers finished off the girls' portion of the tournament with three straight wins. Senior Ashley Weber pinned her opponent at 165 pounds, Kaccee Ravenburg won via injury default at 185 pounds and Kiki Williams garnered a pin with two seconds to go in the first period to take the crown at 215 pounds.
After Glenn go the Katy boys on the board early, teammate Joe Grayson was impressive in his systematic 15-5 defeat of Strake Jesuit's Isaac Vuong, never trailing.
The first pin of the afternoon came courtesy Mayde Creek's Tommy Perez, who took out Taylor's Wisam Nahhas at 119 pounds with 47 seconds left in the second period, leading 13-5.
Sheets won his second district title in as many years when Strake Jesuit's Justin Casino defaulted, casting an audible murmur of discontent through the large crowd that was looking forward to seeing the two state-ranked competitors go head to head.
Katy's Michael Orlando and Taylor's Ayham Nahhas gave them more of what they wanted to see. The two were locked in a scoreless stalemate until Nahhas went ahead 1-0 with 1:41 left in the second period.
Orlando countered with a takedown with 37 seconds left in the second, then iced the win with just eight seconds left with a five-count near fall.
At 135 pounds, Mayde Creek's Steve Caruana fell behind Strake Jesuit's potent Peter VanNieuwenhuise 5-0 early and never could mount a rally, losing 8-3.
At 140 pounds, Katy's Abel Garcia battled tough against Strake's Mike Brown, leading 2-1 after a period, but tiring late to lose 12-8.
In all, 41 Katy ISD competitors qualified for the regional meet.
|
|
-------------------------------------------
Lady Brahmans take 17th in state wrestling tourney
2/7/05
The Lady Brahman wrestling team finished their season last weekend at the Girls' State Tournament in Kissimmee, placed 17th in the 52-team tournament.
Leading the charge for the Brahmans were captain Candi Rivero and Christine Carter.
This is the second year Rivero has placed in the state tourney. With 23 girls in her weight class, this year was quite a bit more competitive than last year, but Rivero fought her way into sixth place.
Carter, a newcomer to the Lady Brahman team this season, made her first trip to the tournament and finished the night in fourth place.
The girls' wrestling program will begin its club season in March for any girls interested in the sport. Contact OHS head wrestling coach Bruce Jahner at 462-5044 for details.
-------------------------------------------------------
2/8/05
But not entirely for Maria Angara.
The 103-pounder eased the pain of a 52-24 loss to Del Oro in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II team-dual tournament by pinning her opponent - who happened to be a boy.
Such a result would have been a shock 10 years ago, but with more girl wrestlers competing against males - as well as against each other - girls pinning boys has become more common.
And Angara's no slouch. She just missed out on an unofficial state girls title, placing second in the California Girls Wrestling Invitational recently. She lost to Santa Monica's Jazzy Green 8-6 in the championship match.
So her victory Saturday came as no surprise to Vallejo coach Mike Minahen.
"This kid was a little bit smaller, but Maria just outwrestled the kid," Minahen said.