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Top sports stories of the year: No. 1
Wrestling: Arra advances to state tourney
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@acnpapers.com
Last year, following a series of close finishes in the past, Flower Mound's wrestling team penciled in winning a regional title as the team's top priority.
As a result, Flower Mound will again be well-represented at the UIL State Tournament in Austin with the Jaguars qualifying six wrestlers after claiming a meet-high four gold medals at regionals.
First-place finishers for the Jaguars included Jordan Speckels (106), Dylan Akers (120), Scott Akers (132) and Drake Dudley (160). Also advancing to state from Flower Mound were Brady Speckels (second - 145) and Tyler Scalzi (fourth - 195).
The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state, which is slated for Feb. 24-25 at the Delco Center.
Coppell, meanwhile, placed third in the tournament behind Colleyville Heritage.
The Cowboys were paced by a gold-medal performance from Sam Rice (heavyweight), who improved to 38-0 on the season en route to taking first.
Rounding out the Cowboy qualifiers are Kaleb Richardson (126) and Daniel Murillo (132).
Richardson claimed second at 126, winning three straight before falling in the finals against Keller Fossil Ridge's Ian Ortega.
Murillo was eliminated in the finals by champion Scott after coming out on top in his first three matches as the No. 2 seed.
Coppell's Preston Cullison (113) won by fall in the first round before coming up short in his second match. Cullison went on to win one consolation match before bowing out, while Gerry Meddaugh (160) lost his first round match but went 2-1 in the secondary bracket and Dillon Stoffgren won his first match at 195.
Qualfiers for Lewisville included Rodrick Williams with silver (220), Clay Lewis (138) in third and Erick Polanco (126) in fourth. Polanco went 1-1 in the main draw but rebounded in the consolation rounds, taking three consecutive matches to reach the finals.
Lewis went 4-1 on the weekend with his only loss coming in the semifinals against Colleyville Heritage's Austin Phillippe.
Williams was able to overcome a disadvantage in experience to take second. Coppell's Will Braem was seeded third, but was unable to recover from a second-round exit.
"Rodrick doesn't have the technical experience that some of the other guys at this level have," said Kent Hall, Lewisville coach. "I think that kind of caught up with him a little bit, but he's a great athlete and was still able to advance.
"Erick hurt his arm earlier in the week and was wrestling in probably the toughest weight class in the region. He had to beat the No. 3 seed just to get a chance to go to state. He really sucked it up and got it done, but he's going to be in another very tough bracket at state. Rodrick and Clay, though, have a good chance to win their first matches at state and that is very, very important to having success out there."
Competing alongside Lewis at 138 was Newman Smith's J.D. Kennedy, who won his first match, and Carroll's Matt Spuria, who entered as the No. 5 seed but went 0-2.
Minh Hoang (106) dropped a pair of matches in his first appearance at regionals for Lewisville, while Eddie Martin went 1-2 with a win over South Grand Prairie's Marc Vale.
Creekview was paced by a gold-medal performance from Elijah Cook (145), who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. The No. 2 seed won his first three matches and took first by topping Flower Mound's No. 1 seed Brady. Issac Salinas (132), meanwhile, placed third after reaching the semifinals, including a second-round win over Carroll's Ryan Waters. He was defeated by Murillo. Following the loss, Salinas defeated Arlington Height's Daniel Turner and Frisco Wakeland's Sean Roche in the consolation finals.
"Elijah, in my opinion, won the toughest bracket in the region," said Terry Wright, Creekview coach. "It had six returning state participants and he had to beat a two-time finalist at state to win.
"I think the brackets at state look good for our guys. It's just going to come down to who is wrestling the best on that day."
The Mustangs also received contributions from Issac Bolivar, who went 1-2 at 170. Carroll's Matt Swoyer and Marcus' Jonathon Murphy advanced to state from 170 with Swoyer topping Murphy in the consolation finals. In other action, Creekview's Jorge Santos (106) went 1-2.
Murphy isn't the only Marauder heading to Austin, as Brandon Litten (182) took bronze by winning four of his five matches, including a win over Hebron's Conner Massie by fall in the second round. Carroll's Connor Chase went 1-2 at 182.
Marcus' Kevin Blessing and Flower Mound's Kaydon Kirby gained valuable regional experience, going 0-2 and 1-2, respectively, at heavyweight.
While Chase and Waters were unable to string together wins for the Dragons, Carroll's Cody Lindberg sees his season continue following a first-place performance at 195. Lindberg won his first three matches by fall before closing out regionals with an 11-0 decision over Arlington Martin's Steven Candley in the finals.
The Colony will be represented at state by John Arra (113), who claimed bronze. Arra won a pair of matches before falling in the semifinals against eventual champion Dammion Heard of Keller Fossil Ridge. Arra rebounded to win a pair in the consolation bracket to place third, including topping South Grand Prairie's Kris Do in the consolation finals. Flower Mound's Weston Cronan dropped his first match at 113 before going 2-1 in the consolation bracket.
Also competing for the Cougars was Jake Thornhill, who got out to a solid start by winning his first two matches before running into eventual champ Scott in the semifinals. Thornhill was unable to advance to state, however, after losing a pair in the consolation portion of the bracket.
At 120, Hebron's Patrick Davis advanced to state by placing fourth. Davis went 1-1 in the main draw before getting hot in the consolation bracket, winning three consecutive matches before dropping the third-place match against Arlington Martin's Tony Torres.
Coppell's Roberton Monteleagre went 0-2 at 120 as the No. 6 seed with a loss to Davis in the first round.
Both the Cowboys and Hawks had competitors at 152, with Hebron's Devin Miller at 2-2 and Coppell's Robert Dow at 1-2.
In girls action, first-place finishers included Creekview's Bobbi Navarrete (110), R.L. Turner's Nina Machado (119) and Lewisville's Brittany Marshall (165).
With the win, Machado - who was named Most Outstanding Wrestler at the District 16 Tournament - remained perfect on the season.
Marshall could also make noise at state.
"She's so athletically gifted she kind of cruised at regionals," Hall said. "She earned the No. 1 seed and it will be interesting to see how she does at state."
Other state-qualifiers include Coppell's Avery Souders (second - 128), Turner's Hailey Garcia (second - 138), Creekview's Leah Olquin (second - 119), Newman Smith's Enya Hernandez (third - 102), Lewisville's Beatriz Sanchez (fourth - 102) and Coppell's Samantha Tudor (third - 110). Garcia will be joining Machado for a second consecutive season at state after becoming the first wrestlers in program history to advance to Austin last year.
More local competitors included Coppell's Bryanna West (102) and Heli Dave (165), who each won one of three matches; and Cara Romeike (119), who went 3-2. Lewisville's Yessica Martinez (138) finished at .500, while Marie Mulero (102) went 1-2 and Jessica Lopez (128), Selphia Galloway (119) and Jenny Kim (185) lost a pair for the Lady Farmers.
Coppell's Stephanie Martinez and Lewisville's Thalia Matamores narrowly missed qualifying, placing fifth and sixth, respectively, at 148, where Carroll's Ashton Johnson went 0-2. Anna Woo (95) and Maria Miradel (215) also placed sixth for the Cowgirls.
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