Top 5 moments from Texas (UIL) high school state wrestling meet, Day 1

Ian Abdallah exacts revenge, national No. 1 Angelo Ferrari stands tall and more from Berry Center in Cypress

The first day of the 2024 Texas UIL State Wrestling Championship featured a few upsets and a few intriguing matchups as the first two rounds of the championship side of the bracket were completed.

Arguably one of the biggest wins on Friday was a rematch of a championship showdown that happened last year at Berry Center as well.

Texas (UIL) high school state wrestling, live updates: Scoring results, championship matchups (2/17/2024)

Here’s a quick dive into five of the top storylines to come out of the Class 6A and 5A finals in Cypress:

Rematch revenge

In the quarterfinals Friday night, Ian Abdallah of El Paso Franklin got a late takedown to beat Allen’s Kelby Bernard, 6-3, in a 126-pound bracket match.

The two met last year in the finals and Bernard won 3-1.

A rematch happened earlier this year at the Allen Texas Outlaw Tournament and Bernard got the best of him again.

This time, Abdallah won and improved to 51-2 in the process. He got a takedown with 6 seconds left in the third period that accounted for the final margin and took a slim 4-3 lead into a victory and a celebration by his coaches.

“I saw the bracket earlier this week and I thought it would be a good time to beat him, early on the bracket,” Abdallah said. “I finally got that one back. I brought it today. He is one hell of a wrestler he is very slick, he is very fast. I just wanted it more. So I went out and got it.”

Abdallah moves onto the semifinals on Saturday with a showdown with Houston Clear Lake’s Ty Annoura, who incidentally is also 51-2.

Will the Eagles repeat?

The Allen boys and girls programs are both aiming to repeat as state champions in 6A.

After day one, both are still in contention to bring home a trophy, if not another title.

The girls are in first place with 53 points as they aim for four in a row — including last year’s shared title with El Paso Eastwood.

Grace Romans (107), Kailin Sebert (120), Jasmine Robinson (165) and Esther Peters (235) are all in the semifinals and Julie Left (185) and Mattilyn Givens (100) are alive on the backside of the brackets.

The boys' race was expected to bet between Arlington Martin and Allen and it is following along those lines.

Martin is ahead with 91 points, while Allen is second with 89.

Both are way ahead of third-place The Woodlands College Park.

The Allen boys have won 14 titles in a row, the most of any wrestling program in UIL history. Amarillo Caprock girl won nine in-a-row titles from 2004-2012 in a single-classification format.

Allen and Martin both have seven in the semifinals — where the big points are scored that could determine the title. 

Upsets on top of upsets

In the girls' 6A bracket, three wrestlers were ranked in double digits and pulled off upset wins.

At 114 points, 14th-seeded Emily Melhem of Katy Taylor won 6-3 in the first round over No. 8 Analia Urias from Cibolo Steele. Melhem followed that up by knocking off No. 2-seeded Cora Hayes of Southlake Carroll by a pin in 2:35.

Her reward is facing The Woodlands’ Riley Rayome, the state champion last year at 107 pounds.

Conroe Caney Creek’s Kathryn Kaminski won a pair of matches as the 15th seed. She beat No. 1 Daniela Hernandez by a 2-1 decision in the first round and then won another close one, 5-3, against 14th-seeded Ufuoma Abel-Obovwemu of Houston Langham Creek in the quarters. She draws Northwest V.R. Eaton’s in the semifinals.

Finally, freshman Leona Layne won twice for Rockwall at 152 pounds. She beat No. 8 Marisa Kloefkorn of Flower Mound Marcus with a pin at the buzzer in the first period. She then pinned Katy Seven Lakes’ Camryn Strohman in overtime in the quarterfinals. Layne draws Sa’maria Barnett from Converse Judson with a state title berth on the line.

Nation’s best

Angelo Ferrari is not only one of the best wrestlers in Texas, he’s also one of the best in the country.

The Melissa senior is ranked No. 1 at 175 in the SB Live national wrestling rankings. He is vying for state title No. 3 overall and back-to-back in Texas.

He won the 175-pound title last year for the Cardinals and is the favorite to repeat this year in 5A.

The Iowa pledge spent about only 3 minutes on the mat in two matches on Friday, winning by pins in 1:19 and 1:28 in the 175-pound bracket.

He faces De’Andre Richardson of Carrollton Creekview in the semifinals early Saturday and likely faces No. 2 seeded Isaac Zapata of Georgetown in the finals. 

Staying perfect

Going into the final day of the wrestling season, there are a few standout wrestlers in both 5A and 6A who are not only chasing a state title, they are doing that with an undefeated season as well.

Here’s a list of those with perfect records after the quarterfinal rounds in each class.

BOYS

5A 113 — Mikey Ruiz, Canyon Randall, 39-0

5A 138 — Eli Biermann, Midlothian, 37-0

5A 157 — Bronson Baxter, Dumas, 40-0

5A 175 — Angelo Ferrari, Melissa, 32-0

5A 190 — Karson Tompkins, Midlothian, 44-0

5A 285 — Sam Reynolds, Lucas Lovejoy, 24-0

6A 132 — Cayden Rios, El Paso Eastwood, 49-0

6A 138 — Garrett McChesney, Katy Jordan, 41-0

6A 285 — Jacob Henry, Austin Vandegrift, 36-0

6A 285 — Omar Khan, Bridgeland, 44-0

GIRLS

5A 100 — Zurri Zamora, Amarillo Tascosa, 36-0

5A 107 — Natalie Lopez, Frisco, 50-0

5A 114 — Akeelah Moore, Melissa, 36-0

5A 120 — Mariah Dillard, Azle, 40-0

5A 138 — Taylin Silco, Lubbock Cooper, 38-0

5A 152 — Sydney Davis, El Paso Bel Air, 46-0

5A 165 — Scarlett Snodgrass, Georgetown East View, 23-0

5A 235 — Ariana Chavez, Borger, 42-0

6A 100 — Jubilee Rendon, El Paso Franklin, 51-0

6A 100 — Cassandra Medrano, Edinburg, 36-0

6A 114 — Riley Rayome, The Woodlands, 52-0

6A 126 — Jania Dunigan, Arlington James Martin, 43-0

6A 138 — Anna Vogt, Woodlands College Park, 39-0

6A 165 — Jasmine Robinson, Allen, 41-0

6A 185 — Rylee Ferranti, Klein Oak, 49-0

6A 235 — Esther Peters, Allen, 45-0

-- Cody Thorn | @sblivetx

Photos: Texas UIL high school state wrestling championships (2/16/2024)