Day 1 of the UIL girls’ state wrestling championship is in the books.
Competition for the state team titles is close in both Class 5A and Class 6A.
The event resumes with semifinals on Saturday morning at the Berry Center, followed by the backside of the bracket with third- and fifth-place matches.
The Texas High School Wrestling Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame will be honored at 2 p.m., the third- and fifth-place matches will start at 2:30 p.m., leading up to the finals at 4:45 p.m.
Class 5A Day 1 Takeaways
Azle has the slimmest of leads going into Day 2 with 53 1/2 points. Fellow DFW school Melissa is in second with 53 points.
San Antonio Pieper is in third with 41 points, for what would be the final trophy. Anna and El Paso Bel Air are within striking distance of Pieper with 36 points. There have been 90 teams score at least 1 point in the tournament.
The first-place Hornets had five wrestlers and all are into the semifinals: Noah Kovach (100 pounds), Mackenzie Harris (120), Sage Mosier (125), Zaylyn Woods (130) and Elizabeth Yelle (170). Kovach is looking to repeat.
Melissa had 9 qualifiers and six are still alive. Of that total, Mary Griffin (110), Payten Gutierrez (120), Malia Griffin (125) and Tessa Tighe (140) are all in the semifinals.
Anna has only three girls still in the tourney, but all of them are in the semifinals — defending champion Addison Hunt (115), Haleigh Bodin (155) and Violet Winkley (190). The trio went 6-0 with 6 pins.
The Bel Air Highlanders also have three in the semifinals: Lauren Marquez (110), Olivia Ontiveros (125) and defending champion Cydney Davis (155).
Class 6A Day 1 Takeaways
El Paso Eastwood’s hunt for a repeat championship is off to a good start with 44 1/2 points.
The Lady Troopers, champions in 2022 and 2024, have a 4-point lead over Katy. The Tigers have 40 1/2 points and took third last year.
Allen is in third, while Flower Mound is in fourth with 35 points, 1 behind Allen.
Rockwall and Prosper Rock Hill are fifth and sixth, respectively, with 29 1/2 and 28 points.
Can those four DFW schools move up to catch the El Paso and Houston-area schools?
Eastwood arrived in the Houston area on Thursday, a day later than planned, after a national security issue led to the airspace around El Paso International Airport. What was once a 10-day flight ban was quickly lifted, and the booster-club-funded plane tickets could be used.
The Lady Troopers brought 7 to state and 3 of those are in the semifinals: Allessandra Toscano, Hailey Delgado and Daniela Hernandez.
Nayeli Ortiz is in the consolation bracket after a quarterfinal loss.
Hernandez and Delgado were both in the finals last year, with Delgado winning a title.
Hernandez won 6-3 in overtime against Tayla Skelley of Prosper to move on in a battle of returning all staters. Skelley was fourth in state last year.
Katy has five of its six wrestlers alive, with Natalie Roberson (100), Emily Beltran (105) and Haley Pitts (130) all in the semifinals.
Beltran is now 47-0 and is looking to repeat.
Class 5A Match of the Day
Khylee Whalen, Dumas vs. Kendall Jones, Midlothian Heritage — 235 pounds
This quarterfinal matchup pitted two former all-staters.
Jones was 4th at this weight class in 2024, while Whalen took third last year for the Demonettes.
Whalen led 1-0 in a low-scoring contest after an escape to open the second period.
Going into the third, Whalen padded her lead with an escape, a takedown and two penalty points on Jones, on the way to a 7-1 win.
The only points for Jones came with 17 seconds left.
Last year in this same round, Whalen lost by a pin to Alyciana Rogers from Liberty Hill.
If both win on Saturday morning, the rematch would happen in the finals.
Class 6A Match of the Day
Lucy Clarno, Dripping Springs vs. Jaelyn Skelley, Prosper — 125 pounds
The quarterfinal showdown pitted two wrestlers who wrestled medalists at 120 pounds last year — Clarno, the state champion and Skelley, who took sixth.
Clarno won 7-5 thanks to a flurry of points in the third period to keep her perfect season alive.
Skelley got 4 nearfall points in the second period and led 5-3 going into the final 2 minutes.
Clarno (31-0) got an escape early to pull within 1.
At the 33-second mark into the period, her takedown on Skelley gave her the lead back. A stalling call on Skelley with 10 seconds left accounted for the final point of the match.
