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Trio of Plano wrestlers advance to Austin
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
Plano Senior wrestler Daniel McCaffrey didn't win the 182-pound bracket at districts.
McCaffrey's lack of a gaudy record or resume had Wildcats head coach Clay Goodloe struggling just to get him a No. 6 seed at the Region III Meet, which was Friday and Saturday in Katy.
Four matches, four emphatic victories and one regional title later, and McCaffrey shouldn't have any more trouble garnering recognition.
McCaffrey was one of three Plano ISD wrestlers, along with teammate Michael Kubik (second place, 160 pounds) and Plano East's Manny Houllemont (third, 182) to place in the top four and qualify for the UIL State Wrestling Tournament, which is Feb. 24-25 at the Delco Center in Austin.
McCaffrey won his first three matches to advance into Saturday's finals against Brazoswood's Ryan Snow. While Snow was the No. 1 seed, McCaffrey proved the top grappler by picking up a pin in the championship bout.
"[McCaffrey] seems to wrestler better with pressure," Goodloe said. "He really opened up this weekend, which was big because he only seems to lose when he is wrestling not to lose instead of going for it the whole time."
Snow was attempting to make McCaffrey his second PISD victim as he pinned Houllemont in the semifinals.
"Manny just got caught," said Al Koebke, East head coach.
That loss denied a rubber match between McCaffrey and Houllemont with the former taking the first match this season and the latter winning the second in the finals of the District 17 Meet. After Houllemont's loss to Snow, he won two matches on the other side of the bracket to take third place and advance to state.
"Manny didn't really do anything fancy; he just went out and wrestled smart, which is what you have to do at regionals," Koebke said. "This is a tough tournament; you've got 16 kids and none of them have losing records, so you have to wrestle smart."
Kubik also lost to a No. 1 seed, dropping a 3-0 decision to Travis Leiskau of Klein Oak in the 160 finals.
"Obviously we are excited [Kubik] made it to state," Goodloe said, "but we are already working on ways to beat [Leiskau] if we see him again."
Kubik and McCaffrey paced a Plano squad that finished ninth at regionals.
"It was a pretty good weekend," Goodloe said. "We wrestled well and ninth place is one of the better program finishes we've had in a long time."
Goodloe expressed disappointment Plano couldn't push one more grappler through to state as he was hoping 120 district champion Avery Coker would make the cut. Coker finished the weekend 3-3, missing out on the top four. The remainder of the Wildcats' six regional qualifiers, Erik Neithamer (106); Austin Krieger (126); and James Bishop (170), each went 0-2.
The Panthers were next on the PISD regional boys qualifier count with four.
Outside of Houllemont, Konrad Whale (195) posted the most wins for East with a 2-2 record.
"Konrad has been a real pleasant surprise," Koebke said. "His technique is getting more natural on the mat and he is getting more confident and improving every time he steps out there."
Scott Nolan (152) and Leo Cervantes (heavyweight) both competed for the Panthers in Katy as well with the former going 1-2 and the latter finishing 0-2.
"This was a great experience for Scott; he got to see how he has to step up his game from here," Koebke said. "He is knocking on the door and now it's time for him to kick the door down."
Nolan will have that opportunity next season, but Cervantes will not as he is graduating. The senior had been suffering from a shoulder injury since Christmas and returned just before the district tournament, where he finished second. Cervantes lost to No. 1 seed Ryan Branch of Lake Highlands in the main regional draw over the weekend.
"Hopefully Leo saw that he can accomplish anything in life when he works hard," Koebke said. "And if he understands that, then we have done our job."
Rounding out the regional slate for East was freshman Lucy Schement, who won one match in the 119 girls division.
Plano West was also represented at regionals with Dean Roudi (138) and Marc Sender (145) both finishing the weekend at 1-2. Sender completed the season above the 20-win plateau while Roudi reached 30 wins and placed at every tournament he was in prior to regionals.
Both will have the opportunity to improve on those numbers next year.
"We were disappointed to not have any state qualifiers, but we talked a lot about the positives too," said Shawn Smith, West head coach. "It was the first time for these two to go to the regional tournament and that's always a good experience; now they know what to work on going forward."
That is also the theme for McCaffrey, Kubik and Houllemont. Only they aren't concerned about next year, but rather next weekend at the state meet.
"We have guys going to state that we expected to be there," Goodloe said. "So we aren't just happy to be there, we want our guys to do something."
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