by Peter Dewey

Another week at St. Marks’ and another well run tournament. Mike Grisz ran it right on time as promised. The hardware was distributed and the teams were clearing out the gym before 3pm. Parents were thrilled. An Oklahoma team came down and captured first place. But there were a handful of relatively unknown Dallas teams that had breakout tournaments and will need to be reckoned with as the season progresses. And there were an awful lot of individual wrestlers who made strong statements as well.

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by the Ranking Czar

–New as of January 8, 2007–

InsideTexasWrestling.com
Official Texas High School Rankings
(Private school wrestlers also listed)

103
1 Eric Simons (11) Allen
2 Victor Dotson (9) Canyon Randall
3 Robert Myers (10) Lamar
4 Tyler Lukes (9) Cy-Ridge
5 Roderick Gaines (9) Rockwall
6 Zach Nash (10) Keller-Central
7 Tobin Fulton (11) HP
8 Andrew Girgis (12) Cinco Ranch
9 Josh Brown (9) Klein

112
1 Danny Luttrell (11) Arlington
2 Greg Gogonas (10) Austin Bowie
3 Joey Vogelsberg (9) Trinity
4 Bryan Osorio (10) Vista-Ridge
5 Thomas Harris (12) Amarillo Caprock
6 Stephen Wurster (11) Rockwall
7 Nick Waltman (12) Cinco Ranch
8 Vincent Tenorio (11) St. Marks
9 Scott Collins (11) Bishop Lynch
10 Austin Davis (10) Klein Oak

119
1 Erik Spjut (10) The Woodlands
2 Brandon McDonald (12) Canyon Randall
3 Chris Wilcox (11) Hebron
4 Ryan Benoit (12) McKinney North
5 Troy Silver (9) Bishop Lynch
6 Adam Purcell (12) Trinity
7 Luis Granados (11) Lake Highlands
8 Matt Morgan (11) Katy

125
1 Jeremy Sandoval (10) Colleyville Heritage
2 Harvey Saurez (12) Amarillo Caprock
3 Kalvin King (12) Canyon Randall
4 Chris Nguyen (12) Klein
5 Tyler Lee (10) Marcus
6 Zach Vick (12) HP
7 Isaac Kinsella (9) Lake Highlands
8 Donovan Vanderbilt (11) Cy Fair

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By Peter Dewey

Even before we discusss wrestling, let me say how nice it was to show up at a tournament and find it was running ahead of schedule. As always tournament director Mike Grisz, Coach Ortega and the whole St. Mark’s community ran a flawless event. I look forward to returning next week for the St. Marks’ Invitational (an individual tourney).

The big dogs heading into this tournament figured to be Bowie and St. Mark’s. They proved why in a hurry. Bowie plowed through Jesuit 69-13, FWCD 90-0 and FM Marcus 68-9. And St. Mark’s dismantled Grand Prairie 74-6, Richardson 76-6 and Creekview 72-7 to face #1 seed Bowie in the finals. (more…)

by Mike McQueen

On November 4th, 2006 we welcomed 5 new members into the Texas Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

This was a great road trip for me with Bob Maughan, Executive Director for the Texas Chapter of the Hall of Fame, Tim Marzuola, Charter member of the Texas Chapter of the Hall of Fame and Wendy Gallatin, Vice President of PR for the Texas Chapter. I got to be the emcee for the second time and it was a great honor to participate and be able to induct these deserving recipients.

Tim Marzuola spoke to the significance of this achievement and how it later hit him that his name was and those below would be in the same Hall of Fame as the greats of our sport. Dan Gable, Danny Hodge and Doug Blubaugh. That is pretty good company.

The event was hosted by Westside High School Coach Ron Baker and he and his staff did a great job. The meal was exceptional and the evening was a total success. Each of the acceptance speeches was video-taped prior to the induction ceremonies and it was a great idea that Ron had. The recipients weren’t worrying about what they were going to say and they could just sit back and bask in the glory of the evening.

This event brought our total of National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees to 16.

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Updated 12/12 Houston Area Individual Rankings

A rankings update after Westside and Woodlands

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This ranking is based on tournament scoring, not dual meet.

1. Bishop Lynch
2. Canyon Randall
3. Highland Park
4. Cinco Ranch
5. Rockwall
6. Arlington High
7. Arlington Bowie
8. Cy-Fair
9. Lake Highlands
10. Colleyville Heritage
11. (tie) Keller & Amarillo Tascosa with Arlington Martin closing in

It was a solid opening weekend of Houston wrestling, but things should get better in a hurry. 3/4 of the teams present missing wrestlers to football and it showed in the Friday duals and the Saturday tournament, particularly in the upper weights.

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by Peter Dewey
ITW Senior Writer

The first big DFW tournament of the year was held this Saturday at Arlington Martin. Years ago it was known as Southern Assault, then the Warrior Invitiational and now the “Tournament of Champions” There is good news and bad news for this tournament. It is not attracting the number of teams that is has in the past when even Houston teams were coming to compete. And to make matters worse, there were half a dozen no-shows this year. But on the positive side, five of Dewey’s Top Ten Dallas Teams were in attendance – Bishop Lynch, Highland Park, Keller, Colleyville Heritage and St. Mark’s – plus host Martin and last year’s surprise champion Azle. So what the tournament lacked in quanity it made up for with quality.

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The Houston Report: “Season Preview” and Houston Area Individual Rankings
By Russell Pate
ITW Staff Writer

Each new part will be added daily 11/13 – 11/17

Part I: Monday, November 13
A look at 10 burning questions that loom large in Houston heading into the season, followed by the return of the Houston area Rankings from HoustonEye.

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by Panhandle Al
ITW Staff Writer

Another season is upon us and West Texas a/k/a “The Panhandle” is pumped and ready for a great season of wrestling. Canyon Randall should be the area team to beat this year with Amarillo Caprock right on their heels.

Here is a brief look at the top teams and a ranking of the area:

1. Canyon Randall – This team is poised to have a very good year. Leading the team are seniors, Brandon McDonald (119) a two-time state placer and All-American, Kalvin King (125) three-time state qualifier, Cameron Padilla (160) returning state placer is coming off an injury but is ready to return to state form, and Chance Cupp (215) was unable to wrestle last year due to a football injury but is ready to focus only on wrestling this season. In addition, will be state qualifiers junior Joey Sykes (171), sophomore Joseph Flores (189), and Josh Martinez (112). Rounding off the team of returning wrestlers will be Cody Dudding (180) a state alternate from last year. Joining the team this year will be two very solid freshmen wrestlers Victor Dodson (103) and Jace Bennett (130). This should be a very solid team and could make a run for the state championship for the first time in school history.

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