- April 29, 2024
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Mariah Mills closes out her quarterfinal victory with a big smile. Photo by Rachel and Abe Mills
Christina Borgmann looks to the ref to slap the mat for a fall at the NHSCA High School Nationals in Virginia Beach. Courtesy photo
Mariah Mills hugs brother Jordan Mills after winning the 107-pound girls championship at the 2024 NHSCA High School Nationals in Virginia Beach. Photo by Rachel and Abe Mills
Mariah Mills holds up her winning bracket and All-American certificate as she is hoisted into the air by Jordan Mills and Tiana Fries. Photo by Rachel an Abe Mills
Christina Borgmann with coach David Bossardet. Borgmann won the 126-pound girls championship at the NHSCA High School Nationals wrestling championships April 7 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Courtesy photo
All-Americans Tiana Fries, Jordan Mills and Mariah Mills lift their Legend Athletics and Matanzas High School coach Mike Fries to celebrate. Photo by Rachel and Abe Mills
Mariah Mills shows off her national championship bracket and plaque and All-American certificate. Photo by Rachel and Abe Mills
Christina Borgmann won six straight matches to win the girls 126-pound class at the NHSCA High School Naitonals in Virginia Beach. Courtesy photo
A year ago, Mariah Mills wrote down a couple of wrestling goals and then put the book away. She wrote, “Wrestling state champ 2024” and “national champ 2024.”
Now she has accomplished both.
Mills, a Matanzas High School wrestler, and Christina Borgmann, a Flagler Palm Coast High school wrestler, each won national titles on Sunday, April 7, at the NHSCA High School Nationals in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Borgmann won six matches to win the girls 126-pound championship, while Mills, who received a bye as the top seed, won five matches to win the girls 107-pound championship.
“High school Nationals is the biggest folkstyle wrestling tournament there is for high school kids,” said David Bossardet, FPC and the Flagler Wrestling club's head coach.
Mills was one of three wrestlers representing coach Mike Fries’ Legend Athletics club to win All-America honors at High School Nationals. The others were her brother Jordan and Fries daughter Tiana.
Jordan Mills placed third in the senior 182-pound class to become an All-American for the first time. Tiana Fries placed seventh in the girls 145-pound class to become an All-American for the third straight year.
Last month, Mariah and Jordan Mills became the first brother-sister duo to win FHSAA state wrestling championships in the same year. Mariah, who lost in the “blood round” last year at High School Nationals — falling one win short of achieving All-America status — checked her final box.
“I never placed at a national tournament like this,” she said. “I’m so excited.”
She defeated Maddie Ripley of Maine — a runner-up last year's High School Nationals — by a 5-4 decision in the semifinals. She then decisioned Alicia Serratos of Santa Ana, California, 4-1 in the final.
“There were a lot of good girls in my bracket,” she said, “Girls who had beaten me before.”
After winning the final, Mariah Mills jumped up, raised both her arms in the air and ran over to hug Coach Fries.
Borgmann did not show as much emotion after winning her final, 4-0 over Ella Hughes, a Georgia state champion.
“She didn’t celebrate. That’s the kind of girl she is," Bossardet said. "She was happy she won, but I think she expects to win. She’s a true student of the sport. She watches a lot of film and asks a lot of questions. After practice, she works on the things she isn’t comfortable with.”
Borgmann also won a state championship last month and placed third at the USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals on March 17 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
“I think she’s getting stronger, maturing as a wrestler,” Bossardet said. “She’s competing in more high-level competitions.”
Both Borgmann and Mariah Mills are returning next year for their senior seasons.
Jordan Mills reinjured his shoulder at the end of his quarterfinal match and then lost in the semifinals. With his shoulder hurting, he was unsure whether he would continue in the consolation bracket, but when his name was called he answered and gutted out his final two matches, his father, Abe Mills, said.
He won a 5-4 decision over Tayshaun Glover of Greensboro, North Carolina, in the third-place match.
Tiana Fries won an 8-7 decision over Ciyanna Okocha of Louisa, Virginia, in the seventh-place match.
Matanzas' Autumn Jarvis, Ani Brown and Jazzy Golder also competed with the Legend Athletics team. Jarvis went 2-2 in the 120-pound class.
Alexa Calidonio, Joslyn Johnson, Trey Twilley, T.J. McLean and Kevin McLean also competed with Flagler Wrestling. Calidonio advanced to the blood round in the girls 165-pound class. Johnson went 1-2 in the girls 100-pound bracket. Twilley went 3-2 in the boys freshman 126-pound class. T.J. McLean went 1-2 in the junior 113 pound class, and Kevin McLean went 3-2 in the middle school 105-pound class.
