Stewart Johnson
The Carroll boys and girls wrestling teams are ready to finish the 2023 season even better than last year. With 10 wrestlers (seven boys, three girls) at the state meet in 2022, the Dragons saw five athletes place fifth or better, including a second state title by Carroll girls wrestler Bayley Trang.
The senior champ has endured injuries that have kept her off the mats at times this season, but Carroll wrestling coach Joe Hathaway doesn’t expect that to slow down her pursuit for a third straight title once she returns to full strength.
“She won’t have forgotten how to wrestle, that’s for sure,” Hathaway says.
Senior Grant Hollaway reached state in the 113 weight class in 2022, but grew and is working to find his groove wrestling at 138. He continues to improve, while junior Boede Gibson (152) and senior Dylan Vaughn (285) — others who reached state for the boys last year — are looking strong as well. Tobi Akenroye, Dylan Ota and Carson Ota are other standout boys this season.
For the girls, KK Bucher is developing into a threat, as is Kenzy Sobh. Brenna Trang, who finished fifth at state in the girls 95-pound class last season, is battling to overcome the heightened effort she now receives from opponents.
“People have seen her, and she’s not surprising anybody this year,” Hathaway says.
SEASON UPDATE
Two years after making history with its first individual female state wrestling championship, the Carroll wrestling program has its sights set on capturing the first team title at this year’s UIL state meet.
Finishing fourth overall at state last year, the Lady Dragons could make a run at the state trophy judging from this season’s performances. Carroll sent three girls to state in 2022 and will send three again in 2023. The Carroll boys, who sent seven wrestlers to state and finished 12th as a team last year, are sending seven again this year and could place in the top 10 at state.
The boys were 10-0 and the girls were 9-1 through their first 10 dual meets this year, with both also winning a couple of tournaments. Hathaway was impressed with the teams’ showing at the Cy-Fair Invitational in Houston, where the boys finished second and the girls took ninth out of 80-plus teams each.
Both teams excelled at events in Oklahoma — the Mid-America Nationals for the boys (Top 10 finish) and the Border Wars for the girls, who cruised to first place over teams from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.
However, more fine-tuning is necessary for the boys to overcome foes like Marcus in district and Arlington Martin in region. The girls will face challenges from Coppell in district and El Paso Eastwood in region, where the Lady Dragons were runners-up in 2022.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do to get up to where we think our standards are and where we could be,” Hathaway says. “But we’re doing pretty well overall.”