From Saturday, February 23, 2008

Story by Ahmard Vital 

AUSTIN – After the dust settled at the state wrestling tournament, the Greater Houston area ended up with seven state champions (five boys, two girls). Though some said it was a down year for Texas wrestling, those who were on hand to witness Saturday’s action at the Austin ISD Delco Center may think otherwise.

Especially those watching Cinco Ranch and Westside.

Westside’s Trent Murrell (160) faced off against Jose Alvarez of Hereford. In a grueling match that went down to the wire, Murrell pulled it off with a 10-9 decision. Right after his triumph, teammate at 171 pounds, James Hazzard, defeated Coppell’s Ben Robinson for the championship.

“I think that he was more of a scrappy wrestler and he got by with endurance,” Murrell said. “But in the end, I found a second wind to kick it up another gear.”

Hazzard had a different take on his win. Robinson defeated Hazzard last year in the semifinals so making a strong come back and winning the title was the goal for the year.

“I actually lost to him last year in the semifinals and I got third,” Hazzard said. “This year I was not going to lose to him again. I was not going to put up with that. This time I was not going to come up short of first.”

Two Cinco Ranch wrestlers maintained their perfect seasons, capping undefeated performances with state titles. Will Morris at 180 and John Gioffre at 285 ended their high school careers with a 43-0 and 45-0 respectively.

Morris, who was down by a point going into the final period, defeated Brandon Sheldon (Cedar Park Vista Ridge) 4-3. Gioffre’s match against Arlington Bowie’s Mohammed Usman went into two overtimes before he pulled out a 6-3 victory.

In the case of Gioffre, not only had he not lost a match, but hadn’t been scored on. That was of course until his final match.

“He scored on me and that was a huge turning point for me,” Gioffre said. “I could have just given up or bounce back and have some resilience. Then I said, let’s just take this into OT (overtime) and I ended up coming out on top. When it came to the state championship, I just could not settle for less.”

Cinco Ranch finished second as a team.

GIRLS: Cy Ridge’s Nguyen, Katy’s Jimenez bring home gold

For the girls, things started with a bang when Cypress Ridge wrestler Jessica Nguyen (95) pinned her opponent Nicole Silva from El Paso Hanks with 51 second left in the second period.

“I am so happy and have been training for so long,” Nguyen, who finished 33-1, said. “I am the first champion in the history of Cypress Ridge. It going to be real important for our team because now they know what it takes to be a state champion.”

Alana Jimenez, a junior who capped off her season with a 35-0 record, defeated Austin Johnson’s Katie Brackin 6-1.

“I have prepared for this for three years and I am so freaking happy right now,” Jimenez said. “I have no words to express this (feeling).”

Subscribe to this comment's feed