- November 6, 2024
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Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast took the top two places at the Region 1 girls wrestling championships on Feb. 17 at Chiles High School in Tallahassee.
The Pirates won the region title for the third year in a row. The reigning state champs compiled 160 points. FPC was second with 110 points followed by District 3 runner-up Middleburg with 104 points. Mainland tied for ninth place with 50 points.
Four of the Bulldogs’ five regional wrestlers qualified for the state championships with Christina Borgmann (125 pounds), Ana Vilar (130 pounds) and Alexa Calidonio (170 pounds) winning regional championships. Borgmann, who placed second at state last year, improved her record for the season to 21-0, while Vilar improved to 33-1. Vilar placed sixth at state last year.
Joslyn Johnson also qualified for FPC, placing second in the 100-pound weight class. Johnson (29-5) lost a 7-3 decision to undefeated Camdyn Elliott of Gulf Breeze.
Matanzas juniors Maria Mills (110 pounds) and Tiana Fries (140 pounds) also won region titles as the Pirates qualified six of their 11 wrestlers for the state championships.
Fries and Mills both placed at state in each of the last two years. Fries, who is 27-2 this season, won a state championship as a freshman and placed fifth at state last year. Mills, who improved to 33-1, placed third at state in each of the past two seasons.
The Pirates’ other state qualifiers are Jazzy Golder, who placed second at 105 pounds at regional; Autumn Jarvis, second at 120; Kendall Bibla, second at 145; and Ani Brown, second at 190.
Mainland’s Cheyenne Wigley qualified for state for the third year in a row. Wigley placed second at region in the 235-pound weight class. The senior placed seventh at state in each of the past two years.
Bibla and Brown lost to the same wrestler in their title matches two weeks in a row. Brown finished second to undefeated Cheyenne Cruce of Middleburg in the district and regional finals.
Bibla lost to Bartram Trail’s Katherine Stewart (pin, 3:31) for the seventh time in eight matches over the past two seasons. But the Matanzas wrestler hopes to duplicate her result from last year, falling to Stewart in the district and region finals but beating her in the state championship match.