Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | SportsDay: High Schools: Wrestling

St. Mark's wrestlers were asked to move coach Rick Ortega's car Monday.
But they weren't given the keys.

They had to push the car.
Ortega likes to vary his wrestlers' workouts. On Monday, he divided his team into groups of four and timed each group as it pushed his 1951 Pontiac Chieftain about 50 yards in the parking lot.

Each team had to do that three times.
It's a good change of pace, junior Ben Grisz said. It's kind of fun, but it's really hard.

St. Mark's wrestlers have also played floor hockey during practice, they've done yoga, and they've run a mile around campus while carrying a 45-pound sand bag.
I try to get them a little variety, Ortega said.

It keeps them sharp. It's a long season.
St.

Mark's was sharp last weekend as it finished second in the 20-team St. Mark's Invitational behind Edmond (Okla.) North.

St. Mark's had three individual champions Bill Sessions at 140 pounds, David Henry at 145 and Grisz at 189. Grisz is 18-0 this season and 73-1 over the last two seasons.

Flower Mound is missing four starters who are out with injuries. The team didn't gain the services of four football players until about a month ago. And Flower Mound has a new coach, Steve Davis.

But Flower Mound is 14-0 in duals, and it has won a tournament each of the last three weeks. Last weekend, Flower Mound won Carrollton R.L.

Turner's 33rd annual Paul E. Aubrey Memorial Invitational, which had 27 teams.
I came in because I felt like we could build a fantastic program, Davis said.

I didn't really know what I would have. I have been pleasantly surprised.
Senior Brian Carman played linebacker for the football team and said he is still trying to get into wrestling shape.

But he won the 215-pound weight class at the R.L. Turner tournament.

Teammate Andy Kidzus was the champion at 152.
Flower Mound will be tested in the Hilton Arlington/Cliff Keen Athletic Lone Star Duals on Jan. 5-6 at South Grand Prairie.

Bishop Lynch, the runner-up at the 2006 National Prep Wrestling Championships, will be there. So will Austin Bowie and Coppell, the second- and third-place finishers at last season's UIL state tournament. The tournament will also feature teams from Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana and Colorado.

We'll find out if we're the real thing or if we're just kidding ourselves, Davis said.

Coppell won its Santa Slam, beating defending UIL state champion Highland Park by 5 points. Coppell's Justin Johnston (119), Jordan Love (145) and Spencer Covey (189) won their weight class.

Highland Park beat Coppell, 36-32, when they went head-to-head in the dual portion of the tournament. ..

. Bishop Lynch placed 25th out of 79 teams in the Beast of the East tournament in Delaware. Johnny Koepp finished third at 152, and Luke Silver was fourth at 140.

For the second straight tournament, Silver beat Tulsa (Okla.) Union's Jamal Parks, the 2006 junior freestyle national champion. Silver defaulted his third-place match because of a swollen knee.

He's expected to be ready for the Lone Star Duals.