Lone Star Duals College Preview:

By John Rizzuti

ITW has a 2000-word preview of the college division complete with write-ups on about half of the better-known teams. But let’s be honest. You’re not going to read it, and we don’t feel like doing another rewrite, more proofing and editing and all the other stuff that happens so that ITW can provide you with our usual hard-hitting, no holds barred, riveting, high-quality editorial.

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By Peter Dewey

Returning to the 2006 Grapevine Duals are some of Texas’ top dual teams, including Highland Park, Arlington Bowie, Dumas, The Woodlands, The Colony, Houston Westside and St. Mark’s. Each of these 7 teams has an excellent chance of being included in JR’s top 10 dual teams in the state. And if they don’t make the initial list, a good showing at the Grapevine Duals will get them ranked.

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This is part one of our LoneStar Duals preview. Today we will cover the high schools in the meet. Friday will come the college preview.

By Peter Dewey

High School Division
The Lone Star Duals organizers are saying this is the best high school field in their 9-year history. And, they are right. Two nationally ranked programs – AWN #10 Bishop Lynch (TX) and AWN #20 Oveida (FL) are the class of the field. The two teams are put together differently but if they meet in the finals we’ll have a battle royal.

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The Houston Report

Russell Pate

(Be sure to scroll to the bottom to catch Houston State duals discussion)

The first half of the season wound down for Houston as it always does, with the Doc Hess tournament at Bryan High School. However, this year’s tournament was anything but routine.

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The Observer’s Rankings Version 1.0
by: Shaun Shaikh, “The Observer”
The Only Rankings Worth Reading in Texas

Ah, another year of rankings. I’m almost looking forward to reading a whole new year of posts and emails and trying to decide what order to put people in, just so that they can all prove me wrong when the time is right.

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Russell Pate

This past weekend was a first for Houston. The area hosted 2 large tournaments in the same weekend, with The Woodlands Invitational and the Chicken Wing Classic at Westside. Both featured the area’s top teams, as well as tough competition from around the state and Louisiana. Not too long ago Houston lacked two such tournaments in a season, now a Houston wrestling fan was faced with choosing which to watch.

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by Peter Dewey

For the first time this year Azle entered a tournament and didn’t win. Still they were not defeated by a team from Texas but by St. Thomas Aquinas, the defending Kansas 6A State Champions. Throughout the tournament it was a 3 horse race – St. Thomas, Azle and Coppell. Going into the finals, St. Thomas and Azle were tied at 180 points and Coppell was next at 159.5.

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by Peter Dewey

There are many teams on the rise in the Dallas area. Here are profiles on two of them.

Arlington Bowie
There is a lot of excitement surrounding the Arlington Bowie program this year. That’s because this is shaping up as perhaps their strongest team ever. The nucleus of the team is six returning starters that are trying to build on very solid seasons from last year – senior tri-Captains Luke Brigmon (152), Chris Corry (171) and Derick Moore (180), senior Matt Buckbinder (125), and juniors Shawn Klemm (112) and Brent Rogers (145). The rest of the line-up is less experienced but Coach John Mance noted that Matt Goolsbay (119), Sergio Tatum (130), Adam Roberts (135), Brad Atkinson (140), Marcus McGraw (189), Jordan Spruiel (215) and Larry Peters (275) have beaten some good wrestlers already this year.

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Russell Pate

Quarter Report Continued — Klein District

The Klein District has turned into one of the toughest in the state. Not many districts boast 3 teams the caliber of Bryan, Klein, and Klein Oak. This season has seen Klein distinguish themselves as one of the area’s top 2 dual teams along with the Woodlands. This weekend Klein and Klein Oak are in Dallas and will be tested. Bryan is my pick to win the Katy ISD tournament.

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From Russell Pate

The season is past the quarter mark, and after early returns, we know much more about the area wrestling landscape. I will now start posting updates and notes over every Houston area team that I can find results or info for. If I miss someone, please let me know.

Today will start with the Katy District. The coming days will see similar reports on the Klein, Woodlands, HISD, and Cy Fair Districts, as well as area Private schools.

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