The School Newspaper of Rouse High School

Raider Rumbler

The School Newspaper of Rouse High School

Raider Rumbler

The School Newspaper of Rouse High School

Raider Rumbler

Four wrestlers win regional titles, seven headed to state

Eight wrestlers placed at the regional meet, Jan. 31-Feb. 1 with seven advancing to the state meet. Six of the eight wrestlers advanced to the championship with four of them winning their weight class.

“I couldn’t be happier,” head coach Brad Bresnehen said. “I’m so very happy to the way the kids responded to the adversity over the year. They wrestled very well today.”

In the 113 weight bracket, freshman Noah Martinez won all of his matches to reach the regional championship. In the finals, Martinez faced a familar foe, Vista Ridge’s Michael Duvall, an athlete the freshman has wrestled against even before high school, with their matches going back and forth. But Duvall has “gotten bigger and stronger” this year and pinned Martinez in the finals. The freshman finished second and qualified for state.

“I think it’s a great privilege to go to state as a freshman,” Martinez said. “I feel it’s a great honor.”

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Martinez will be joined by seven more teammates at state. In the 126 weight class, senior Micah Schonfeld got a little revenge on his way to a regional championship. After winning his first two matches the first day, Schonfeld returned the second day to face Vista Ridge’s Matt Holloran in the semifinals. Schonfeld lost to Holloran at district by one point, dropping him down to the third/fourth place match. But at regionals, the senior pinned Holloran in the second period to move on to the finals. In the championship match, he faced Dripping Springs’ Jonah Ribera, the defending state champion. After three periods, the score was tied 3-3, sending the match into overtime.

“We were both taking shots, neither of us getting them,” Schonfeld said. “Eventually he took a bad shot and I was able use his momentum against him and take him down to get two points.”

The win gave Schonfeld his first regional championship and a spot in the state tournament for the second year in a row.
“I was so psyched, I was so happy,” Schonfeld said. “I had just gone way above my expectations. I had just beaten a state champ and a kid who had beaten up on me all year.”

In the 132 and 145 weight classes, junior Jose Rangel finished third and freshman Dylan Rowling was second. Rowling joins Martinez as the only two freshman wrestlers to ever qualify for state.

“I want to win at least two matches,” Rowling said. “0-2 would be bad. I don’t want to wrestle like a freshman at state.”

In the 170 and 182 weight classes, seniors Evan Coleman and Jesse O’Rourke won all of their matches to reach the championship matches. Both seniors won their brackets, with Coleman revenging a district loss and O’Rourke pinning Reagan’s Mulbah Car in the first period.

“The toughest match was the last one,” O’Rourke said. “It was just so nerve-racking, my nerves were driving me crazy.”

regional champsColeman and O’Rourke join Schonfeld as the school’s first-ever regional champions.

“That’s huge. They’ve been wrestling for four years,” Bresnehen said. “It tells you how hard they’ve worked and how dedicated they’ve been. Hopefully, that tells them they can do anything in their life.”

In the 285 weight class, junior Jake Moser finished fifth, just one place shy of advancing to state. Overall, the team finished third, behind Vista Ridge and Vandegrift. District 13 dominated the region, with 44 of the 84 placers coming from this district, 52 percent of the first through six place finishes.

On the girls’ side, junior Elise Coleman won all of her matches to reach the championship match. Coleman easily won the match over Rio Grande City’s Alouette Gonzalez, 16-3 to win the 102 weight class and advance to the state for the second year in a row.

The seven wrestlers will now compete at the state meet in Garland this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14-15.

“[The goal is] getting on the podium at state, how high can we get on the podium,” Bresnehen said. “Everybody has a shot to be on the podium.”

REGIONAL RESULTS
Varsity Girls
102 –  Elise Coleman, 1st

Varsity Boys –  3rd
113 – Noah Martinez, 2nd
126 – Micah Schonfeld, 1st
132 – Jose Rangel, 3rd
145 – Dylan Rowling,  2nd
170 – Evan Coleman, 1st
182 – Jesse O’Rourke, 1st
285 – Jake Moser, 5th

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The School Newspaper of Rouse High School
Four wrestlers win regional titles, seven headed to state