Stewart Johnson
Sending athletes to the UIL state meet is nothing new for the Carroll wrestling team, but the program made school history last season when Bayley Trang became Carroll’s first girls state champion in the sport.
Now a junior, Trang returned to state and succeeded in defending her title while the rest of her team helped take fourth place.
“The girls have kind of jumped levels to where they're contending on the state level now,” says Carroll wrestling coach Joe Hathaway.
Bayley's younger sister Brenna saw success when she secured fifth place at the meet, while senior Rebecca Natvig fought for fourth place after finishing fourth at regionals last year. On the boys side, senior Cole Bennett earned second place in his match. And despite battling injuries earlier in the season, senior Pete Etheredge finishing the state meet claiming third place.
“This has been a really good group,” Hathaway says. “They've really committed themselves to trying to accomplish something.”
SEASON PREVIEW
Held at Prosper High School on Jan. 22, the Texas High School Wrestling Coaches Association State Duals offered one last glimpse at top state teams before district on Feb. 5. Carroll wrestling coach Joe Hathaway saw it as a test run, pivotal in preparing his boys and girls to take first place at district.
“It'll be a good sampling of teams from all over the state,” Hathaway says before the meet. “We get to see some competition that we don't usually get to see. Those will be good matches for us.”
The Carroll teams made a trip to Houston, competing at the Berry Center for the Cy-Fair Invitational on Jan. 7-8. One of the largest tournaments in the country with 80 teams from across the state, the Lady Dragons took second place, falling behind by just a couple points to tournament winner Prosper.
Carroll's boys didn't come as close to winning the team total, but Cole Bennett (second place), Pete Etheredge (fourth) and Boede Gibson (seventh) did finish near the top individually.
The Lady Dragons also won the challenging Texas Women's Classic at Lewisville and the always-tough Trojan Classic at Euless Trinity over the winter.
The quality meets prepared the Dragons to face tough Marcus and Flower Mound boys teams in district, while Allen, Arlington Martin and El Paso Eastwood posed the biggest threat at regionals. Prosper challenged the Lady Dragons when grappling at region, but they couldn't stop them from securing a second-place finish.