- December 23, 2024
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Tiana Fries (126 pounds), Mariah Mills (107 pounds) and Christina Borgmann (120 pounds) with coach Mike Fries at High School Nationals in Virginia Beach. Photo by Rachel Mills
All-Americans Christina Borgmann (foourth place) and Tiana Fries (eighth place) hold up their plaques and certificates at High School Nationals in Virginia Beach. Photo by Rachel Mills
Coach Mike Fries, founder of Legend Athletics and girls wrestling coach at Matanzas High School, gets a lift from his three wrestlers who competed at High School Nationals: Mariah Mills, Christina Borgmann and Tiana Fries. Photo by Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills of Legend Athletics and Matanzas High School at the High School Nationals in Virginia Beach. Photo by Rachel Mills
Christina Borgman waits for action to continue at the NHSCA Girls High School Nationals. Photo by Rachel Mills
Christina Borgmann runs an arm bar on her opponent from California at the Girls High School Nationals. Photo by Rachel Mills
Tiana Fries takes control of her opponent from North Carolina at the NHSCA Girls High School Nationals. Photo by Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills gets the advantage on her opponent from North Carolina. Photo by Rachel Mills
Christina Borgmann placed fourth in the 120-pound weight class at the High School Nationals in Virginia Beach. Photo by Rachel Mills
Tiana Fries placed eighth in the 126-pound weight class at the High School Nationals in Virginia Beach. Photo by Rachel Mills
Ormond Beach Lions Club President Hank Lunsford presents Cole Long with a plaque honoring him as the club's March Student Athlete of the Month. Courtesy photo
Micayla Cronk, second from left, was part of Florida's school-record 400-medley relay at the NCAA swimming championships on March 17. Aris Runnels, Nina Kucheran, Olivia Peoples and Cronk placed seventh in the event. Courtesy photo
Three weeks after Matanzas won the state girls wrestling championships, three Pirates competed at the National High School Coaches Association’s High School Nationals in Virginia Beach.
Christina Borgmann and Tiana Fries earned All-American honors. Borgmann placed fourth in the 120-pound weight class. Fries placed eighth in the 126-pound class.
Mariah Mills finished among the top 12 wrestlers in the 107-pound class, falling one match short of joining her teammates as an All-American.
“The girls looked great. They kept their composure. I’m super proud of the way they wrestled,” Matanzas girls wrestling coach Mike Fries said.
The three Matanzas sophomores wrestled under the umbrella of Mike Fries’ Legend Athletics club team.
Each weight class had over 40 wrestlers from around the country competing.
Borgmann followed her state runner-up finish by advancing to the consolation finals at the national tournament, defeating two state champions along the way.
“She did a great job. She shot well, she had a great top game in the tournament. She was able to ride a lot of the girls out. She listened well to the game plan and pulled off some good wins,” Fries said. “She wasn’t nervous, she had a clear head and she just executed correctly.”
The girls looked great. They kept their composure. I’m super proud of the way they wrestled. — MIKE FRIES, coach
Tiana Fries was coming off a fifth-place finish at the state championships a year after winning a state title as a freshman. She was a little off her game on the first day at nationals, Mike Fries, her father, said.
She won two of three matches on Day 1. With the score tied 2-2 in her first match, she pinned her opponent with 14 seconds left. She won her next match in triple overtime.
“I don’t think she took one shot (shooting in on an opponent) the whole day,” Mike Fries said. “On the second day, she had to win three matches to be an All-American. And man, she came out with all cylinders firing, taking good shots, good setup, good defense.”
Tiana Fries pinned Hailey Kagle, a state champ from California, in overtime, to clinch a spot in the top eight.
Mills was winning her quarterfinal match when she made a simple error, Mike Fries said.
“It’s college rules,” he said. “As long as any part of the body is in the circle, (the match is) still going. Mariah was out of bounds, so she kind of stopped wrestling. The girl dove at her legs and took her down. It was just a little mistake. But that girl ended up going to the finals. Mariah wrestled a heck of a tournament.”
All three wrestlers needed to win one match to receive All-American honors and two of them did, which made the moment bittersweet, Mike Fries said.
“It's hard when three girls go, and they all ended up in the same place,” he said. “Mariah lost a tough match and the other two won, so now you're celebrating them and Mariah's still upset about her match. It happened so quick. So, it's real heartbreaking. You just wish they all could have gotten that All-American status, which is huge.
“As young as these three girls are to come out and do what that did was very impressive,” he said. “It just shows how hard they’ve been working.”
Fries is planning to help coach a combined team of local Legend Athletics wrestlers and wrestlers from a club team in Virginia at the NHSCA National Duals tournament on Memorial Day weekend in Virginia Beach.
Flagler Palm Coast High School graduate Micayla Cronk, the most decorated swimmer in Flagler County history, earned All-American honors in four events at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships March 15-18.
The University of Florida sophomore swam the freestyle anchor leg on the 400-yard medley relay team that broke a UF school record with a time of 3:28.36. The Gators finished seventh in the event. It was one four All-American relay finishes for Cronk.
She also won All-American honors in the 200 freestyle relay (seventh place), the 400 freestyle relay (eighth) and the 800 freestyle relay (sixth).
Cronk's anchor split of 1:43.53 on the 800 relay was the fastest UF split in the event. Cronk also competed in three individual events, finishing 28th in the 100 and 200 freestyle events.
The Ormond Beach Lions Club honored Seabreeze High senior Cole Long as its Student Athlete of the Month on March 23.
Long is a standout basketball player and swimmer. He was named MVP of the boys’ basketball team and was a member of Seabreeze’s 200-medley relay team, which finished 15th at the Class 2A state swimming championships.
Long has a 3.92 GPA and is a member of the Seabreeze Surf Club and the Spirit Club. He was also the Sandcrabs’ homecoming king.
He plans to earn his AA degree at Daytona State College and then transfer to Florida State. He plans to study business and real estate.
Flagler Palm Coast's 4x400 boys relay team finished second at the FSU Relays with a time of 3:18.98 on March 25. It was the fastest time among state teams. Hoover, Alabama, won the event in 3:17.84.
The Bulldogs improved on their winning time of 3:21.35 at a rainy Bob Hayes Invitational the previous week.
Other top 11 finishes for the FPC at the FSU Relays: Ashton Bracewell, seventh in discus (47.37 meters); Isaiah Joseph, seventh in the 400 hurdles (55.82); Dennis Murray, ninth in the 400 (49.29); 4x800 relay, ninth place (8:18.77); and Drew Droste, 11th in shot put (14.9 meters).
Mainland flag football quarterback Ava Colubiale had a tough act to follow, replacing Alexis Wilson, who passed for 1,894 yards and 29 touchdowns last season. But Colubiale is ahead of Wilson's passing yards pace with 1,457 through seven games. Colubiale threw four touchdown passes in a 27-6 win over Celebration on March 24, giving her 15 TDs for the season.
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