By Terry Carter
Related: Katy ISD Athletic Hall of Honor Schedule
Morton Ranch wrestlers Tarkyia Mensah (left) and Tamyra Stock celebrate with Morton Ranch coach Mark Balser at a 2011 photo at the UIL State Wrestling Championship. Both seniors had just won state championships in wrestling. For Stock, it was her second consecutive title.
When Morton Ranch sophomore Tamyra (Mensah) Stock appeared in the Maverick wrestling room in 2008, she sat on the floor, a reluctant observer of her twin sister, Tarkyia Mensah, who was learning wrestling moves.
It may have been the only quiet moment in Stock’s wrestling career before she embraced the physical nature of grappling. Stock has won back-to-back state championships in 2010 and 2011, two WCWA National Collegiate Championships in 2015 and 2017, a U.S. Championship in 2016, a World Championship in 2019 and, most recently, a gold medal in the 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo this summer. Stock is one of only two U.S. female wrestlers to win an Olympic gold medal.
“Me and Helen (Maroulis) are both Olympic champions, trailblazers,” Stock said with a grin. “I really appreciate the fact (Katy ISD is) recognizing me and my twin together. She means the world to me. When we both won state championships, I was more elated for her. I am definitely her biggest fan.”
Back in high school in 2008, Morton Ranch wrestling coach Mark Balser and assistant Daniel Black knew immediately they had discovered two potential standouts with natural speed, strength and quickness. Neither had wrestled until high school, however, which can make first-year competition difficult. That didn’t stop this pair of talented girls, the motivated children of Prince Mensah and Shonda Wells, who were also both good athletes.
Each walked a unique and inspired path in their wrestling careers that helped them reach this weekend’s recognition during the Katy ISD Athletic Hall of Honor induction ceremonies. On Friday from 3:30-5:30 p.m., a meet-and-greet event for the public will be held at Legacy Stadium in the Field Houston Community Rooms for the four Athletic Hall of Honor teams and 45 individuals being inducted for 2020 and 2021. COVID prevented a 2020 ceremony last year, Katy ISD Executive Athletic Director Debbie Decker said.
Hall of Honor
Morton Ranch’s first inductees into the Katy ISD Athletic Hall of Honor Tarkyia Mensah (left) and Tamyra Stock celebrate state championships from 2011. These athletes are among 45 individuals who will be recognized and inducted into the hall on Friday at the Katy-Morton Ranch football game, which begins at 6 p.m.
The reunion and hall induction event this weekend clearly impacts both Morton Ranch graduates deeply. Despite the fact both won state championships and national collegiate titles, they didn’t expect to have their names added to the Hall of Honor area inside Legacy Stadium.
“I am more than happy we are receiving this award together,” Mensah said this week. “Tamyra is my ray of sunshine. She is the yin to my yang. I am definitely honored. This honor is the embodiment of what I want to do with my life. It is tear-jerking that years after graduation people remember what I did. I could have quit at any time after my injury (sophomore year). But I wanted to be the master of my story—and now I am.”
When she won her gold medal in Tokyo, Stock spoke out to the world about her gratitude for coaches, support team and friends at Morton Ranch High School, around Katy, at Wayland Baptist University and the U.S. Olympic Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. She takes time to rest, share her joyful energy and vision with her support team, fans and friends, including Stock’s husband and former Morton Ranch wrestler Jacob Stock, the whole wrestling community, coaches Balser and Black and former teammate Tony Leonard.
The twins chose Wayland Baptist to wrestle in college, and the empowering atmosphere, coaching of Johnny Cobb, Aaron Meister, as well as others made it the right choice. It was an ideal environment for the sister’s talents and deep spiritual convictions.
“I give my worries to God. God’s got my back…He wants me to be happy,” Stock said. “You can be that person who is powerful and strong, dedicated, determined…and not be vulnerable. I’ve always wanted to be that leader that would bring people to me and let them know, ‘I can definitely see the Christian side in her, but she’s so strong.’”
Journey to State and Beyond
Stock learned quickly on the mat, overwhelming and outmuscling good wrestlers, working on technique with a huge, joyful smile. Mensah wrestled a little more strategically, and she also highlighted quickness and power, Balser said. Both thrived as athletes and set a winning pace for the Lady Mavericks, laughing and smiling often.
“They were both really coachable and grew into the sport,” Balser said. “It’s one thing to have God-given talent, and it’s another to earn a state title. It was hard work. But no matter hard we worked, Tamyra was always smiling. Then she flips a switch, steps on the mat and it’s all business. Both girls did a great job.”
Stock finished her sophomore season 42-7 as a state finalist while still learning technique. She followed up with dominant wrestling her junior year (35-3) and an unbeaten senior season (45-0) that includes back-to-back state championships and a career record of 122-10 with 85 pins.
Cinco Ranch head wrestling coach Bill Dushane, who has been coaching in Houston since 1985, knows outstanding wrestling when he sees it. He said Stock has reached a rare level in wrestling.
“She is phenomenal,” Dushane said. “To accomplish what she has, she has a tremendous amount of commitment. She has talent through the roof. To win at that level, your whole being has to be focused on it.”
After high school, Stock wrestled at Wayland Baptist and excelled, claiming national titles in 2015 and 2017. In 2015-16, Stock competed at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado at the international level and nearly competed in the 2016 Olympics. She completed her degree at Wayland in 2017 and returned to the training center as an Olympic hopeful, capturing a host of major events, including a world championship win 2019 and the Olympic gold medal at 149 pounds in August.
During her sophomore season after nearly two months of Morton Ranch varsity wrestling, Mensah suffered a severe knee injury in January 2009 that kept her on the sidelines for the in 2009 and 2010. She didn’t wrestle at all during her junior year. While recovering and treating her knee, Mensah encountered another emotional wound.
The twins faced uphill battles off the mat, not knowing what the future held for Mensah. Then both girls lost their father a year later to a car accident as he was returning from a long-distance wrestling event in Amarillo. But she wrestled fiercely her senior year and won state at 128 pounds, just before Stock capped her senior season at 138 pounds as a two-time state champion.
Mensah also wrestled and graduated from Wayland Baptist, becoming a five-time All-American and two-time University National Champion before graduating in 2016. Maverick coach Balser cannot say enough about the power of these two girls who persevered thought challenge, injury and loss to become champions on so many levels.
“On Friday, Nov. 5, two things are happening at halftime,” Balser said. “The twins are being inducted into the Katy ISD Hall of Honor, and they are the first two athletes from Morton Ranch. And Academy is presenting the Morton Ranch wrestling program with a check in Tamyra’s honor.”
Now the Morton Ranch and Wayland Baptist graduates will have their names forever included on the Katy ISD Athletic Hall of Honor, which began in 2017. And they can march on to their next goals and achievements. Mensah is working on her Master’s Degree in Criminal Scene Investigation, and Stock said she is just looking to relax with friends and family after an incredible run of wrestling dominance, followed by a busy media tour nationwide.