By Terry Carter, RTT, CHyp.
After day one at the Region III-6A Wrestling Championships at the Merrell Center, the Katy boys’ team has a slight advantage as the Tigers pursue their eighth consecutive regional team title.
Clear Falls, however, is only 3.5 points behind the Tigers, and District rival Cinco Ranch holds the third spot after Friday’s early grappling. The top teams tangle on Saturday for honor, pride and a host of regional champion awards.
Katy (79.5) leads Clear Falls (76). And both boys’ programs have some breathing room between themselves and third-place Cinco Ranch (62). But the top eight teams can still shuffle the final standings on Saturday afternoon.
Heading into a 9 a.m. start for semifinal action for boys and girls, Katy has six wrestlers with a chance to reach the regional finals. A win on Saturday morning would guarantee each semifinalist a UIL State Wrestling Championship spot next weekend at the Berry Center.
Any semifinal losses would delay qualification until Saturday’s final round of wrestling, which is slated for 1 p.m.
A quick glance at the Tiger results on day one, however, yield no doubt how motivate they are to defend their 7x regional champion streak.
So far each wrestler has competed twice if they won both matches, three times if they lost and fell into the consolation bracket. Katy’s six tenacious Tigers —Owen Vaught at 144 pounds, Connor Timmons at 150, JP Garcia at 157, Jeremy Manibog at 165, Dimitrious Katsigiannis at 215 and Rodney Trotter at 285 — have won two matches each, pinning 10-of-12 opponents faced so far.
Timmons, 2022 state finalist Garcia, 2022 state finalist Manibog and defending state champion Trotter are dominating action with nothing but quick pins. Katsigiannis scored an 18-2 technical fall and just missed a pin in his opening match. And Vaught scored a comfortable 8-2 decision after pinning his first foe on Friday.
GIRLS’ DAY ONE WRESTLING RESULTS
Cy Ranch is running away with the team title, as many expected. However the next four teams chasing are all from Katy ISD.
Cy Ranch leads the way with 90 team points. Second-place Katy (63) and Cinco Ranch (60.5) always seem to be in the top-3 race. And Paetow (48) and Seven Lakes (48) are tied for fourth place after day at the Merrell Center. Mayde Creek (43) is tied with Brazoswood for seven place also.
Cy Ranch has eight wrestlers in the championship semifinals, which start at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Win or lose, those girls will compete at 1 p.m. in the championship placement round for either first place or third.
Katy features two girls — Mykala Patters at 100 and 2022 state qualifier Abby Fonseca at 185. The Lady Tigers also have six wrestlers still competing in the consolation bracket with a chance to earn a state qualification.
Third-place Cinco Ranch has four wrestlers battling in the championship semifinals on Saturday morning. They are The Lady Cougars also have two remaining in the consolation bracket.
Paetow has Isabella Fresneda at 114 and Xochi Gomez-Nava at 2235 in the championship semis. The team also has four girls earning points in the consolation bracket of the regional tournament.
Seven Lakes has two girls, Shirit Holdeman at 138 and Camryn Strohman at 152 in the championship semifinals Saturday at 9 a.m. The Lady Spartans also feature three more grapplers in consolation action.
Katy’s JP Garcia has been an efficient leader on the mat this season, and he reached the state finals last year. Katy has six wrestlers who are dominating early regional matches. (Photo by Terry Carter/UDPhotos)
Cinco Ranch freshman Nevada Daniels has the best record of any Katy ISD wrestler this season. Some are saying that Daniels and wrestlers from College Park, Cy Ridge and perhaps Waller are the four best at 107 pounds. (Photo by Terry Carter/UDPhotos)