Kingwood Park trio focusing on state
Two boys, one girl to represent Panthers at Berry Center
The Kingwood Park girls wrestlers posted their highest regional finish last Saturday in Bryan, placing sixth out of 23 teams in Region III-5A.
The Panthers scored 62 points with only six girls participating.
“It’ s tough,” coach Jeff Knight said .“Everyone’ s good at every regional, but top to bottom our region is one of the toughest around, especially when you bring in the schools coming from the Dallas area.
“So our girls competed really well.”
The best part, Knight said, is their confidence grew throughout the season – and they’re all coming back.
“They felt good about their finish and they’re already excited about next year,” he said.
Knight is excited about this year.
The Panthers qualified nine wrestlers for the regional tourney at the District 10-5A competition.
“Wewere real pleased,” Knight said. “We had probably our best year overall, since I’ve been the headcoach.
“We had 50 kids out for wrestling who stayed with it. Wrestling’s a really tough sport, and a lot of times we’ll start off with 50 but by the end of the season we’re down to about 33, 34 kids. These kids stayed with it the whole year, so we’ve had really good numbers, which in- creased the competition.”
Junior Lex Harris led the way, claiming her second regional title at 102 pounds.
“She was expected to win, and that’s not always the easiest thing to do, when you’re expected to win, so she wrestled really well (and) got two firstperiod pins,” Knight said.
Harris improved to 27-4 on the season by consistently finding ways to escape bad situations, usually with her superior flexibility.
“She never stops,” Knight said.
“She just continually battles. If she gets in a bind, she works her way out of it with a great motor.”
Harris pinned Davis’ Gissel Avellaneda in the first round of the final.
“(Avellaneda) scored on her early, but Lex quickly rebounded, and then she got the pin right as the buzzer went off at the end of the first period.”
Another state qualification gives Harris a chance at redemption.
She made state last year but didn’t makeweight, so she wasn’t allowed to compete.
“This year she’s really dedicated herself,” Knight said. “She’s always two or three pounds under.
“She has a chance to win it all. At that level, everyone’s really good. Whenwe go to state, we’ll be wrestling the other regions, and we really don’t know anything about them, but she has as good a chance as anyone to go in there and medal.”
Sophomore Ritz Toscano, a move-in from MacArthur, placed fourth at 148 in her first year wrestling.
“She upset several wrestlers to make it to fourth, including a girl from Humble (Cecily Sanchez) who had pinned her very quickly twice in the last couple weeks,” Knight said.
Amanda Squyres placed fifth at 119, making her a state alternate.
She actually finished fourth but lost a wrestleback for George Ranch’s Lydia Masters for the final state berth.
Freshman Brittney White and Reyna Aguilar also competed at regionals.
White lost to Lee’s Carmelita Garcia in the first round of the 110-pound bracket but rebounded to win consolation matches against Rockwall Heath’s Johanna Guerrero and Lucas Lovejoy’s Jordan Duncan.
Xavier Reneau is KP-ark’s lone boys state qualifier.
The senior made it in his first regional appearance, avenging his only loss in the tourney by beating Lovejoy’s Connor Haden for third at 182.
“He battled and worked his way all the way to third,” Knight said. “He defeated our district champion (Willis’ Carson Dyer), who beat him the week before, then knocked off another one of the top guys.
“He beat (Roderick Davis) from Humble, who was a state qualifier last year, and just continued to improve.”