Cody Thorn
Garrett McChensey not only won another state title, he left with the Most Outstanding Wrestler award for 6A wrestlers.
That was one of the highlights on the final day of the UIL Championships held on Feb. 17 at the Berry Center in Cypress.
The senior capped off his senior season with a 43-0 mark and his second title for the Warriors — this one at 138 pounds.Â
“It was really nice, I’ve been working for it all year. I didn’t feel much pressure, I knew I could do it. I knew no one in the bracket could stop me,” McChesney said.
McChesney, ranked No. 1 in the bracket, beat Rockwall’s Dario Petrucelli by a 12-4 major decision in the championship. To reach the finals for the third year in a row, McChesney had two decisions and a pin.
He made the 138-pound finals last year but lost to Houston Westside’s Kyle Lew by a 3-2 decision.
“That loss made me push myself all summer and all year,” McChesney said.
His first title came in 5A, winning the 132-pound title in 2022.
Other champions from the 6A meet from non-trophy teams. Read about state champions from the 6A 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-place teams:
6A 106
Dylan Ota is Southlake Carroll’s first champion in two years after he got a 6-3 decision over Dripping Springs’ Jackson Shipley.
The sophomore finished 45-3 this season for the Dragons and two of those three losses were to other finalists — one in Texas and one in Kansas.
He was the No. 1-ranked wrestler heading into the finals and beat the No. 3, 4 and 5 wrestlers along the way. The first three wins were by pins.
“To be the best you can, you work as hard as you can to be the best,” Ota said. “I wasn’t too nervous. I was making sure I was warm because there was a big gap between when we wrestled the finals. I just had to keep pushing him to make him tired if it got to the third period.”
Shipley led 2-0 after the first period and then 3-2 going into the final period. A reversal, stalling and two near-fall points allowed Ota to win.
6A 132
Jackson Herman closed off the year with 25 victories in a row.
The Katy Cinco Ranch senior won the 132-pound title with a 6-4 win overtime over Cayden Rios of El Paso Eastwood.
That was an upset over the No. 1-ranked Rios, who was 50-0 going into the finals.
“I don’t care what your record is, if you are undefeated or not, I will go after you,” Herman said. “When I attack, you can’t stop me.”
Herman went to the Texas Outlaw Classic in Allen in early January and sustained both of his losses — going 50-2 this year.
Last year, Herman went 1-2 at the state meet while wrestling on a torn ACL and didn’t medal during his first trip to state in 2022.
“When I was four I wrote down the goal of state champ and it just happened,” Herman said.
6A 150
After having a state champion last year, Rockwall added another to the wall this year in senior Jake Moon.
He got three takedowns and a reversal in an 8-2 win over Austin Lake Travis’s Will Deutschlander in the finals. The No. 1-ranked Moon had three decisions and opened with a tech fall.
“It means a lot, I’ve been chasing for two years prior and I’ve…
