Cody Thorn
CYPRESS — Depth played an important part as four teams closed Friday afternoon with three semifinalists each in the Class 6A UIL Wrestling Championships after day one at The Berry Center.
Defending state champion has three, as does South Grand Prairie, El Paso Eastwood and Prosper Rock Hill.
The quartet is also four of the top five teams in the standings heading into the final day of the competition. Prosper Rock Hill has a slim one-point lead over Cypress Ranch, 39 to 38. The rest of the field at the top is packed closely together. Eastwood is in third with 34 ½ points, while Allen is four back of them.
South Grand Prairie is 1 ½ points behind Allen.
Cypress Ranch, Klein Cain and Richardson each have two wrestlers in the semifinals and the biggest story from day one may go to Richardson.
Located north of Dallas, the Eagles brought only two to the state meet and both of those wrestlers made noise with a combined four wins.
No. 9-ranked Akeelah Moore pulled a pair of upsets to stay alive in the 107-pound division.
She opened with a pin in 1:05 over San Antonio Johnson’s Teya Garner, who was ranked No. 5 heading into state. Moore (11-1) then rallied in the third period to defeat freshman Nevada Daniels was 52-1 and ranked No. 2 heading into the quarterfinal showdown….
