Caption
Close
For Smithson Valley’s Ariana Mendoza, hard work pays off.
The senior, representing the Rangers and their first-year program, defeated La Joya’s Steffany Rosas (29-3) 16-12 to win the gold in the 185-pound division at the Region IV-6A tournament at Littleton Gym on Saturday.
Mendoza (28-1), who had no prior experience in wrestling before this year, capped her program’s unprecedented rise to the UIL state championships.
“Well I’m very shocked and surprised, being a first-year program I never thought we’d get this far at all,” Mendoza said after her victory over Rosas. “I’m very happy. We trained three hours a day, I wanted to see some results and obviously it’s working out pretty well. At the beginning, our coach said we were going to go win district and end up in regionals, so it was unrealistic. For a first-year program, we went through it and we won. If you work hard for it you’ll get it.”
Her teammates, juniors Lindsey Rittimann and Kendall McGarity, finished in fifth place in the 148 and 215-pound divisions, respectively.
The day served as motivation for Steele senior Henry Willoughby (19-1).
The defending 220-pound regional champion was unable to repeat after suffering an upset loss to Leander’s Zeke Garcia (19-0).
Willoughby suffered an injury to his left knee during the match, and after leading 2-0 in the second period, had to forfeit.
“It’s a small little injury, but it’s not going to stop me from getting to my goal — which is to win state,” Willoughby said, who still advances to the state tournament as a No. 2 seed after his loss to Garcia.
Austin Vandegrift won the boys team title, paced by three first-place finishes in the 152, 160 and 182 weight divisions. Reagan was second and New Braunfels third. Johnson and Steele finished sixth and ninth, respectively.
Johnson won the girls team title, paced by two first-place finishes in the 110 and 128-pound divisions and a second-place finish in the 95-pound division. New Braunfels and Smithson Valley placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
Mission senior Guadalupe Rodriguez (42-2), who won gold in the 138-pound division, was voted the meet’s most outstanding boys wrestler.
Cedar Park Vista Ridge senior Jayda Bordeaux (28-3), who took gold in the 95-pound division, was voted the meet’s most outstanding girls wrestler.
The top four finishers in each division advanced to the UIL state tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Berry Center in Cypress.
jlopez@express-news.net
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
