Girls do well for Trinity at state wrestling meet

The Trinity wrestling program just finished up a successful season at the state meet Saturday in Garland in which the girls team finished in a tie for 12th place out of 77 possible schools in Class 6A. They scored a total of 31 points.

The girls team was well represented, having one girl in each of the 10 weight classes – the only school to do so at the meet. The Trojans did the same in last year’s meet, also making them the only school to do so.

The team was led by senior Malavine Saafi, who finished in third place in the 215-pound class. She began the tournament with an overall record of 34-7. Saafi would first pin Morgan Langston of Arlington Lamar before moving on to the semifinal because of an injury to Ashly Johnson of Houston Cypress Springs. Rachel Bridges of Keller Timber Creek pinned Saafi before the Trojans senior pinned back-to-back opponents in Adelita Munoz of Plano East and Melanie Rusch of Pfugerville Hendrickson.

Sophomore Paisley Zandi (165) pinned Leilani Vital of New Braunfels before losing to Vicky Nnazoba of Arlington, 5-4.

Senior Kynna Hunter (138) entered the tournament 35-15. She lost to Heather Pike of Katy 9-5 before reeling off two consecutive decisions, 5-3 over Blythe Romero of McAllen and 9-3 over Amanda Alvarado.

Jennifer Landaverde of Houston Jersey Village defeated Hunter 3-0 to end her highly successful career.

Finally, in the 119-pound weight class, sophomore Savannah Bye fell to Jessie Ausman of Justin Northwest in the first round then won back-to-back matches, pinning Grace Lemm of Austin Bowie and beating Rulyanne Rodriguez of Weslaco 9-8. She would lose in her next match by pin to South Grand Prarie's Eileen Fuentes. She would finish the year with an impressive 39-16 record.

Other girls team members included sophomore Eileen Moncivais (185); sophomore Passions Hollins (165) and sophomore Leeann Irland (128), freshman Mack Beggs (110), freshman D'Shaylyn August (102) and freshman Elizabeth McKenzie (95).

All in all, the girls began the state meet with a combine 232 wins, led by Saafi's 38-7 record, while Hollins (27-14), Zandi (36-11) and Hunter (37-17) also had great seasons.

Junior Alexia Pineda was the lone representative from L.D. Bell, but lost both her matches. On the boys side, Trojans junior Nick Purcell lost in the first round, won two in the consolation bracket before ending the season with a 37-10 record after a loss to Jacob Hart of Keller Central.

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Girls do well for Trinity at state wrestling meet."