Houston Metropolitan Championships

Russell Pate

It was a great 2 days at Klein Oak as 41 teams came together for an early season tangle. The Woodlands was the dominant team of the tournament, scoring an impressive 233 points, while their JV finished 18th overall (14th out of the Houston schools). A very deep Dallas Jesuit team finished 2nd despite having only 2 in the finals. New Orleans Jesuit finished 3rd by placing 9 of the 11 wrestlers they entered. But the surprise of the tournament was Cy Fair, never a factor in previous years, putting 4 wrestlers in the finals and topping 200 points to finish 4th.

First year Coach John Banas (formerly of Strake Jesuit) is the first High School coach that Cy Fair has ever had. Up to this point the Cy Fair wrestlers have been tough kids club wrestlers who did not have the necessary conditioning and mental toughness to win at the High School level. Team leader Mike Murray was undoubtedly on of the state’s best at 140 last year, but after giving up a fluke pin while leading his regional semi-final match last year, he was DQed for an illegal move in the consolation bracket and missed out on qualifying for state. Yesterday, there was none of that. Klein Oak’s Josh Wisnoski (a returning state alternate) was coming off a tough 4-2 match with Jamie Sheets last week at the Klein Collins tournament. When he met Murray in the finals of yesterday’s tournament, it looked like it would be one of the marquee match-ups of the Finals… It wasn’t. Murray dominated the action in a not as close as the score 7-0 win. Wisnoski did not look bad, Murray just looked that good.

Klein Oak did however have 3 other champions. Blake Allen won at 125 against Austin McCain of Cy Fair. John Elijah beat Matt Hinton of the Woodlands 6-5 at Heavyweight after a tough semi-final 3-2 win over the Mayde Creek heavyweight. And Kody Williams beat Colin McElroy of The Woodlands at 135 by the score of 13-8. The 15 pound match ended with Williams looking pretty bad on his feet in the 3rd period, but that is why they wrestle 3 periods. Williams completely controlled the action early, especially on the mat. He is a very tough all-around wrestler who can win a match from every position. McElroy appears to be very talented offensively, but still has some way to go defensively, especially on the mat. Both of these wrestlers should be around when the season ends. And for Klein Oak, the best news is that Shane Doughman is to return soon.

One final note that falls in the eye opening category, brand new team Katy Seven Lakes, which has only 9th and 10th grade students, was the 6th pace team of the 7 district schools in attendance. There 30 points were actually 1 point higher than Strake Jesuit, last year’s 5th place team in state. The Woodlands College Park, another new high school with only underclassmen likewise beat district rival Conroe (31 to 23). In a big tournament it is always interesting to look at the bottom of the standings and see which teams are headed in the right direction. Great job to the coaches and young kids at Seven Lakes and College Park, who seem to have found some district rivals.

Here are the final results.

Team Scores
1. Woodlands 233
2. Dallas Jesuit 214
3. NO Jesuit 212.5
4. Cy Fair 201.5
5. Klein Oak 167
6. Mayde Creek 165.5
7. Cinco Ranch 151
8. Katy 144
9. Kinkaid 144
10. Friendswood 105

103
Weiser NOJ Fall Davis KO
Morgan Katy 13-3 Waltman CR
Prebeg CP forfeit Oparta Leee

112
Spjut TWH (MOW) TF 23-8 Nguyen MC
Gruezke NOJ Fall Gleichman FW
Glenn Katy 10-0 Ramirez DJ

119
Capella TWH fall Larrington CF
Pulliam MC 12-2 Harrison KIN
Brown Tay fall Spisak Lafayette

125
Allen KO 10-4 McCain CF
Cole MC fall Bartholomew CR
Rabito NOJ fall Baughman TWHS

130
McCain CF 13-5 Campos OR
Bubb MC 14-5 Rascon TWHS
Tanory CR forfeit O’Brien KIN

135
Williams KO 13-8 McElroy TWHS
Jones NOJ 5-3 Pikulski CF
Lail LAF forfeit Harris FW

140
Gruexke NOJ 11-0 Thompson ST
Hasson CF 3-2 Holden Katy
Rivas TWHS T-Fall Kovacs TWHS JV

145
Murray (MOW) CF 7-0 Wisnoski KO
Richard DJ fall Lowry KIN
Quiroz KF fall Massey KC

152
Rabito NOJ 2-0 OT Bash DJ
Powell 8-5 Williams Katy
McSloy MC forfeit Gaume TWHS

160
Harris CR 12-9 Moulder TWHS JV
Dickinson TWHS 8-4 Matthews NOJ
Walthall VM fall Novak Katy

171
Depew TAY fall Spires TWHS
Bayman DJ fall Guillory FW
South Katy 3-0 Cage OR

180
Rinaldi DJ 11-4 Levy KIN
McNair CR 13-3 Amoo MR
Cross LAF forfeit Palmer NOJ

189
Bookout KIN (MOW) 13-9 Bossetta NOJ
Mancha ST 13-6 Neuhoff DJ
Pearson MC fall Moses KC

215
Jones KC fall Clickner FW
Torres Ridge 8-2 Selly DJ
King MC forfeit Smith TWHS
(Smith forfeited out after having his nose broke in Quarterfinal win)

275
Elijah KO 6-5 Hinton TWHS
Brown KC 7-2 Lopez DJ
Schubert CF forfeit Benson MC
(Benson forfeited out after 3-2 Semis loss to Elijah)