TexasWrestling
Three Middle School teams from Texas competed in the Heartland MS Duals in Council Bluffs, Iowa on April 16th and 17th. The teams were Team Texas Red, Team Texas Blue, and Best Trained. The Heartland MS Duals consisted of 30 teams representing 12 states.
On Saturday in the pool wrestling the Texas Blue did not get any favors from the “bracket gods” as they drew a pool that included Pennsylvania Silver and Illinois Gold. At the end of the day, Texas Blue had a record of 1-3.
Texas Red started out strong by winning their first two matches, but ultimately lost to a Nebraska team and the defending team champions from Missouri. Texas Red finished 3-2 in their pool.
The Best Trained team also had a tough day going 0-4 while wrestling the top teams from Kansas and Pennsylvania.
On Sunday, Texas Red was placed in the Platinum bracket or the second highest bracket, Texas Blue was placed in the Gold or third highest bracket, and Best Trained was placed in Silver bracket or fourth bracket.
Texas Red lost its first two matches to Missouri and Kansas. In the final match a come-from-behind victory on the final weight class allowed Texas Red to secure the victory against South Dakota and take 7th place in the Platinum bracket.
Texas Blue lost all three of its Sunday matches to North Dakota, Kansas, and Florida and finished 8th in the Gold bracket.
Best Trained won its first two matches in their bracket and lost in the championship to finish 2nd in the Silver bracket.
Individually, Majai Coubles was named Outstanding Wrestler on Texas Blue and Carson Laughery was named Outstanding Wrestler for Texas Red. Best Trained Donavan Ford takes home All-American honors and team MOW – going 7-0 in the tournament, Additionally, Nolan Rodriquez was named Outstanding Wrestler on Team Vision which was a team comprised of alternate wrestlers from several states.
The following Team Texas wrestlers were named All Americans for having tournament records with one or few losses – Carson Laughery (8-0), Parker Decker (6-1), George Marsh (7-1), and Darwin Hull (5-1). Donnie Whitted 75#, and Anthony Ferrari 90# go 6-1 for Best Trained
Team Texas Red,
