We wandered around the stands for awhile until we came upon these guys - Randy, Donna, Megan, Amanda, Marie, and Ben - from Waller High School, which is east of Houston. They filled us in on the ins and outs of girls wrestling. "It takes guts, strength, and you gotta be quick!" This sport seems really cool! They told us they were big fans of WHS wrestler Erica Coburn, in the 185 class, who is the returning state champ. Ben, standing at 6'4" and totally buff, is confident that he is THE hottest guy at WHS.

Then we found Tamara, who wrestles in the 215-pound class, and Angela, both of Ellison High School. They were in serious concentration before their big matches! Tamara's wrestling nickname is "The undertaker." At 204 pounds, Tamara is on a strict workout program, running two miles a day. "I am solid!!" she states proudly. Angela, a.k.a. The Rock, is wrestling in the 185 weight class, but weighs in at only 163 pounds. She generously moved to a higher weight class because two other girls were wresting in the lower class. NOTE: it was very important to Angela that everyone know she does not weight 185, just because she is wrestling in that class. Message reported!

YEAH!! A victory for Heather, from Klein Oak High School in Spring, Texas, who is #1 in her weight class. This is her second year to wrestle, and her second year as champ! What does she like about wrestling? "The fact that you can beat guys at something!!" The worst thing about wrestling is cutting weight. She plans on mowing a large Papa John's Pizza, after the tournament.

Maria Garza (in red & blue) of Sam Houston High School, and Geanie Jaffe (in green) of the Arlington Colts wrestled an incredible, intense, and heated match! It was AWESOME!!
Geanie was pretty thrilled with her victory and is taking home the Championship medal. We interviewed her after the match and she told us she likes wrestling because it is an individual sport, in which you can use technique and speed. She has wrestled guys before. In one match, a dude named JJ Holmes broke her arm. Man, that's rough!!

We heard a whole lot of commotion-yelling, shouting, screaming, and general mayhem, and found Nick, Jimmy, Christie, C.J., Richard, cheering on their friend Linse Meadows of Katy High School, who is a 3rd place winner of the 128-pound class. They brag, "She's a stud!" and told us her nickname is "XX." They also informed us of a certain habit the coach has! (Unfortunately, we can't go into details without first-nose info.) Jimmy and Nick are the class clowns and the babe in school is Jessica. These guys are also wrestlers and look forward to kicking some serious booty next year.

How's this for intensity? Angela Whitley, of Ellison HS vs. Erica Coburn of Waller, face it out during the start of the match. Erica goes to wrestling clinics in the summer, where she is one of the only girls. Sooooo, she is pretty used to having to wrestle guys. Yeah, baby, yeah! Wrestling comes natural to her and she uses an intimidation tactic--a stoned face stare straight in her opponent's eyes! Grrrrrr.

Finally, here are the state champs from all the weight classes. Many of these girls will go on to the national competition. This sport is growing like wildfire and we had a blast watching it!