- December 25, 2024
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Jordan Mills defeated New Smyrna Beach's Sawyer VanRider in the Region 1-2A 190-pound championship match. Courtesy photo by Rachel and Abe Mills.
Jordan Mills (left) with Matanzas coach T.J. Gillin after winning the Region 1-2A title at 190 pounds. Mills is undefeated heading into the state championships. Courtesy photo by Rachel and Abe Mills.
Toryion Stallings will try to win a Class 3A state title at 132 pounds. File photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC senior Ethan Laupepa (right) heads into the state championships with a regional title. File photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Mariah Mills (right) defeated national champion Mary Manis in an exhibition match at Lake Highland Prep on Feb. 10. Courtesy photo by Rachel and Abe Mills.
Mariah Mills (right) pinned Lake Highland Prep's Mary Manis in an exhibition match on Feb. 10. Courtesy photo by Rachel and Abe Mills.
Jordan Mills is just four wrestling wins away from achieving a lifelong dream.
“Winning state is a big deal to me,” the Matanzas wrestler said. “It’s been a goal of mine since I started wrestling.”
Mills comes from a wrestling family. Two years ago, Jordan and older brother Tyson both earned runner-up titles at the state championships. At this year’s state meet, Feb. 29 to March 2 at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Jordan and his sister Mariah are both expected to be in the hunt for a state title.
Jordan Mills’ junior season was cut short due to a shoulder injury that required surgery. This year he moved up to 190 pounds and has not lost a match, compiling a 49-0 record. He defeated Tennessee state champ Lucas Szymborski in the finals of the Knockout Christmas Classic in Kissimmee and beat Class 3A top-ranked Chris Sanchez of South Dade in the final at the Cradle Cancer Invitational in Jensen Beach.
Mills defeated New Smyrna Beach’s Sawyer VanRider (41-6) for the third time, 11-5 in the finals at the Region 1-2A championships Feb. 24 at Clay High School. Ranked No. 1, he is projected to win the state title, but he’s not looking past his first match.
“I don’t want to look ahead,” he said. “In my sophomore year I just looked at who I had next. All year, my coaches have said, ‘Don’t play the bracket game. Just win the next match.’
Mills had hoped to win a state title last year. This weekend, he hopes to take care of unfinished business.
“I’m ready,” he said. “I’ve wrestled some tough matches, and I’ve had some good workout partners.”
Mills is one of three Flagler County wrestlers who won regional titles last weekend. Flagler Palm Coast seniors Toryion Stallings and Ethan Laupepa won championships at the Region 1-3A tournament in DeLand on Feb. 24.
Stallings won the 132-pound title to improve to 42-2 on the season. Laupepa won at 215 pounds to improve to 39-2. They’ll be joined at state by teammates Trey Twilley, who placed third at 126 pounds; Carson Baert, who was fourth at 144 pounds; and Kelton Howard, who placed second at 165 pounds. Howard (38-4) lost a 3-0 decision to Creekside’s Colton Leavell (40-5) in the final.
FPC placed third at region behind Orlando Timber Creek and Oviedo Hagerty.
“I don’t think we wrestled well at district, but I think we bounced back (at region),” FPC coach David Bossardet said. “To finish third in a district and then turn around and finish third in a region, obviously you wrestled better. That gives you reassurance.”
Bossardet said all five of the Bulldogs’ state qualifiers are wrestling the best they have all year.
“That's what you want — the best version of yourself on the mat at the state tournament,” he said.
Six Matanzas wrestlers and five FPC wrestlers will be competing in the girls championships at state. The Pirates’ Tiana Fries and Mariah Mills and the Bulldogs’ Christina Borgmann, Ana Vilar and Alexa Calidonio won regional titles on Feb. 17. Matanzas’ Kendall Bibla, Jazzy Golder, Autumn Jarvis and Ani Brown and FPC’s Joslyn Johnson also qualified for state.
The Pirates will be trying to defend their 2023 girls state championship. Bibla is a defending state champ, while Fries won a state title in 2022 and placed fifth last year. Mariah Mills placed third each of the past two years.
Borgmann was a state runner-up last year, while Vilar placed sixth at state.
