- November 21, 2024
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Jordan Mills of Matanzas celebrates his state championship while Coach Mike Fries and Coach T.J. Gillin raise their arms in the background. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills gives brother Jordan Mills a hug after becoming the first sibling state champs at the FHSAA wrestling championships. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills stuffs her opponent’s head in the 110-pound girls quarterfinals at the state wrestling tournament. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Jordan Mills hugs coach Mike Fries after winning the 190-pound Class 2A state championship. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Jordan Mills jumps into the arms of coach T.J. Gillin after winning the Class 2A state championship at 190 pounds. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Tiana Fries of Matanzas stops a takedown in the first round at the state tournament. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills of Matanzas secures an arm bar in the 110-pound girls final at the state wrestling championships. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills of Matanzas wins the 110-pound girls state championship. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills.
Ani Brown of Matanzas displays her seventh-place medal in the 190-pound weight class at the girls state championships. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Kendall Bibla of Matanzas pins her opponent Mya Bolden of Port Charlotte before forfeiting in the quarterfinals due to injury. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Jordan Mills (right) pinned Jett McCauley in 2:32 in the semifinals. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Jordan Mills of Matanzas drives semifinal opponent Jett McCauley of Charlotte into the mat. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Tiana Fries of Matanzas goes for a reversal in the 140-pound final against undefeated Sofia Delgado of Coral Park. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills of Matanzas stands on the top step of the podium for the girls 110-pound state championship. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Jordan Mills of Matanzas stands at the top of the podium for the Class 2A 190-pound state championship. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills of Matanzas waits for her semifinal match to begin at the state tournament. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Jordan and Mariah Mills hold up their state champion prizes. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
Mariah Mills woke up Sunday morning, March 3, and had to remind herself that she was now a state wrestling champion. Her brother, Jordan, couldn’t forget. His season, culminating in a championship match that will be recounted for years to come, has been unforgettable.
The siblings became the first brother and sister to win FHSAA state wrestling championships. The Matanzas High wrestlers won their respective titles on Saturday, March 2, at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
After undergoing shoulder surgery last season and missing the postseason, senior Jordan Mills had a season to remember, going undefeated with a 52-0 record and winning the Class 2A title at 190 pounds.
Mariah Mills, ranked 11th in the nation, was almost perfect herself, winning the girls 110-pound title and finishing with a 37-1 record. Her only loss was to the No. 10-ranked wrestler at the Wonder Woman tournament in Missouri.
Matanzas junior Tiana Fries, placed second in the girls 140-pound bracket, and Ani Brown placed seventh at 190 pounds to help the Pirates place third in the girls tournament, a year after they won the championship. Hernando won the team title with 104.5 points. Flagler Palm Coast was second with 84 points with Matanzas finishing third with 68 points.
The Pirates would have scored more points, but defending 145-pound state champ Kendall Bibla hyperextended her elbow in her quarterfinal match, ending the junior’s season.
It was the third year in a row that Fries placed at state. She won the 110-pound title as a freshman in 2022 and place fifth at 125 pounds last year.
Mariah Mills also medaled for the third year in a row. She placed third in both 2022 and 2023. This year, she pinned all four of her opponents at state, including Ponte Vedra’s Erin Rizzuto in the final. Mariah also defeated Rizzuto in the district and regional finals.
“It feels really awesome,” she said. “Waking up the next morning, I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s kind of weird thinking that I'm a state champ right now. Maybe I should wear my medal at home, so I can remember it every time I look at my neck.””
Jordan said he told her she should wear a crown.
“She's a two time state champion now,” he said. “She was a state champion with her team, and she won individually, so I'm really proud of her.”
Mariah hugged her brother after he won.
It was awesome to finally see him win a state championship in his senior year, and then for us to be able to make history together.”
— MARIAH MILLS
“As cool as it is to win a state championship,” she said, “it’s even cooler to do it as siblings, because you always want the best for your sibling, obviously. And so it was awesome to finally see him win a state championship in his senior year, and then for us to be able to make history together.”
Jordan Mills and older brother Tyson both placed second at state in 2022. Last year, Jordan was undefeated when he re-injured his right shoulder at the Flagler Rotary Tournament and underwent surgery to repair ligaments. He returned for football season, but repeatedly dislocated his shoulder and had it popped back into place.
But he never suffered a dislocation during wrestling season until one minute into his state championship match.
He called for injury time, but the referees apparently did not hear him right away, and wound giving his opponent, Sawyer VanRider of New Smyrna Beach, five points, judging the situation an immanent near fall.
“Jordan’s trying to signal from underneath, and when they finally stopped the match and Jordan’s got his arm dangling, they turn and put five points on the board (for VanRider), a takedown, two back points and a point for injury time,” Matanzas coach T.J. Gillin said.
Trainers popped Mills’ shoulder back in place, and he continued the match.
“I was a little bit confused at first when I saw the 5-0, because I thought they were going to start us again on our feet, 0-0, because my shoulder was dislocated on the shot,” he said. “But my coach told me don't worry about it. Just get up and get it done. So there's nothing I could do to change that. I knew I could get it done. My mindset from then on out was just to score as many points as I could to win the match.”
Mills had already defeated VanRider three times this season. And by the end of regulation, the Matanzas wrestler tied the score 7-7.
“It was a struggle,” Gillin said. “Every time Jordan got to Sawyer’s legs, he wasn't able to really truly lift that leg up in the air. He just hunched over, trying to take Sawyer down from the mat. But he battled and battled and battled.”
After neither wrestler prevailed in sudden victory time, VanRider chose bottom in the first 30-second overtime period, and Mills held his opponent down. Mills chose bottome in the second overtime period.
Gillin said VanRider and his coaches knew he could not keep Mills down for 30 seconds, so he let Mills up right away, giving him the escape point, with the intention of taking him down for the win.
“Jordan was able to hold off a barrage that came close to scoring, but Jordan’s a very hard person to take down,” Gillin said.
Mills won the match, 8-7, his fourth victory over VanRider this season.
“It was more stressful watching his match than wrestling in mine,” Mariah Mills said. “When his shoulder popped out, I knew that was going to be tough for him to wrestle through. But I believed in him still. It was awsome to finally see him pull it off at the end.”
Gillin said that while girls wrestling has been sanctioned for only three season, a brother and sister winning titles on the same day is still a remarkable feat.
“Mariah was in one of the most competitive weight classes in the girls division,” Gillin said. “And we’ve had only one state champ on the boys side before Jordan (Tyrone Jones in 2018). But now to have a kid put together a perfect undefeated season and end it the way he did where he just had to fight through with his arm dangling. And being down 5-0 just didn't seem to stop him. If that was how we were going to end the year with those two winning state titles, then that’s pretty cool.”
