CYPRESS – Serenity De La Garza finished her high school wrestling career Saturday with a second consecutive state title, the first Valley girl to be a two-time repeat champion, and Valley 11 wrestlers – one boy and 10 girls – took the podium as one of the top six grapplers in the state at their respective weight classes.
De La Garza ended her spectacular career with back-to-back undefeated seasons, a combined 72-0, and eased her way through Friday and Saturday’s UIL State Wrestling Meet at the Berry Center in Cypress, Texas.
De La Garza toyed with her semifinal opponent, easily claiming an 18-3 victory, setting up her match with Frisco’s Destiny Sims,who entered the match at 43-2 and earned three pins on her way to the finals.
The senior jumped out to an 8-4 lead before a reversal by Sims tightened the match at 8-4.
Seconds later, De La Garza went for a fireman’s carry, which helped her jump out to that first period lead, but Sims sprawled to counter. Somehow, De La Garza still managed to flip her opponent and secured her title at the 3:39 point of the match.
“It’s a little overwhelming right now,” Memorial head coach Eddie Gonzalez said. “We knew it was possible at the beginning of the year but it was a brutal year with so much competition but Serenity once again proved what kind of athlete that she is.”
The two finals opponents met last year in the second round, with a similar outcome.
De La Garza talked little throughout the year of winning a second title. She talked less of the arm injury she suffered during the regional tournament, not mentioning it until after her semifinal match.
None of that, however, proved to be a hindrance for her. Even though Sims’ offensive spurt took De La Garza by surprise.
“I got scared for a minute when she turned things around on me and I knew I had to to something, to keep moving,” De La Garza said. “I was scared but I pushed through because I can still fight.
“She kept butting me hard and I was like, ‘OK, I don’t want to do this anymore,’ so I had to do something to get her down andkeep it my match. She got it at hers and one point and I needed to turn it back to mine.”
Other podium finishers included Edinburg High’s Cassandra Medrano (100 pounds, fourth), Rio Grande City’s Vivien Canales (107, fifth), Edinburg Vela’s Danielle Silva (114, fourth), Juarez-Lincoln’s Brooklyn Garza (126, fourth), Edinburg High’s KeniaIslas (132, sixth), McAllen Memorial’s Eternity De La Garza (165, fourth), Juarez-Lincoln’s Yamilex Hernandez (fifth, 185),Edcouch-Elsa’s Amaya Lopez (sixth, 185), Palmview’s Yvette Rojas (fifth, 235) and Rio Grande City’s Greg Vela (sixth, 150)
Canales pinned her opponent in 1:14 to capture fifth place. The RGC junior had a busy two days, wrestling six times before her final pin. She finished her junior campaign with a 39-4 record.
“Theres a good amount of really tough competition, but going into this match I believed that I deserved it. she was a toughopponent but the top five or six are going to be tough,” Canales said. “She was very tough but I caught her in something I’ve never done in a match before.”
During the match she heard her coach yell out “armbar.” The move was something Canales said she had practiced for years, but never had the chance to use it – until Saturday.
“I’ve never had the chance to use that and when my coach yelled it out, and I thought to myself what’s the worse that can happen,” Canales said. “I did it and it worked on my last high school match (this season) I was very happy with that.”
It was another step in the positive direction for especially girls wrestling in the Valley. Last year, four Valley girls reached the podium, including state champions Serenity De La Garza and PSJA High’s Jessica Villanueva.
Medrano is only a sophomore while Silva and Islas are both juniors.