Both wrestling teams move on to regional competition this weekend after a strong showing in district with nine girls and nine boys advancing.

Region starts on Friday and Saturday for the girls at 12 p.m. The boys start on Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. Both teams will compete at Allen High School.

At district, the girls put all of their nine girls through to region.

The team had two first place finishers, junior Brittany Marshall and senior Jennie Kim; six second place finishers, seniors Karen Aguilera, Maria Mulero and Selphia Galloway, and sophomores Jordan Lee, Jezebel Pardo and  Angelic Rodriguez. There was one third place finisher, sophomore Kassandra Garcia.

The girls were led by Marshall who was named district Co-Most Outstanding Wrestler. This was her third district title.

Runner-up Selphia Galloway said she was disappointed in her placement, but still worked hard to earn her place.

“There was only like two people including myself,” Galloway said. “But that sort of motivated me to push myself to go to regionals so that I would actually beat the Coppell girl.”

Her fellow teammate Jennie Kim said she was also disappointed in her placement but nonetheless kept a positive attitude.

“It’s my senior year so I was expecting district champion,” Kim said. “But Coach Daniel said we have to be grateful for what we achieved, so I am grateful for that.”

To prepare for this tournament, the team has been doing a lot of conditioning, closing up some holes that they have in their techniques, and trying to work over some minor and not-so minor injuries.

But the girls said, in order to be successful in region, they need to know more than moves.

“Coach Daniel is really drilling us with not just physical toughness,” Kim said, “but with mental toughness, so I think that’s really important.”

Daniel said that one of the biggest barriers the girls have is not trusting in their abilities.

“They are technically sound,” Daniel said. “They know how to wrestle and they know the moves. They just have to believe that they do, and [once] they get out of their own head, if they can do that, they’re going to be more successful.”

Daniel’s only advice for the girls in order to make it to the next round is to be confident.

“All I keep trying to tell them is to believe in themselves and their ability to do what they know how to do,” Daniel said.  “They kind of lack that at times where they start to doubt themselves but if they just believe that [they can do it] and go with it, they’re going to be okay.”

For the boys, sophomore Chris Hamill came in first, senior Joe Head and junior Xavier Franklin placed third, and seniors Cameron Alaniz and Armando Gonzalez, along with junior Quinn Bauer and freshman Jojo Yeboah, took fourth. Sophomore Eddie De Leon placed fifth and is an alternate for regionals.

“It feels like everything I’ve put in this year has finally paid off,” Hamill said.  “I’ve been doing before school and after school workouts for the past seven months now.”

Hamill said he has his own strategy about how to come out as a victor.

“90 percent of your match is mental,” Hamill said. “If you go in thinking you’re gonna beat the guy, you’re probably gonna beat them.”

Overall the boys placed sixth in district, something coach Noel Peterson said he has mixed feelings about.

“[We placed] a little lower than I wanted,” Peterson said. “But it’s where it is.”

Now that from region to state it’s all individual, Peterson said he has only once piece of advice for the boys.

“Get ready for a brawl,” Peterson said. “It’s gonna be tough. You get through our region, you get a good chance of placing in state. So I’m optimistic if we can just get through. It’s up to them now.”