Tiana Fries’ father was the most decorated high school wrestler in Flagler County history. She comes from a family of wrestlers. It was only natural that the freshman from Matanzas would also become a wrestler, right?

“No, I just wanted to do it for the shoes,” she said. “I liked the look.”

Fries also looked pretty good on the podium on March 5 at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, wearing a first-place medal as the county’s first FHSAA women’s wrestling champion.

“We had (Tiana’s younger brothers) wrestling,” said Mike Fries, Tiana’s father and assistant coach at Matanzas. “She wanted a pair of wrestling shoes, because she thought they were cute.”

But once she was in, she was all in. She joined coach John White’s Matanzas Women’s Club team last year, and she worked hard.

“She’s the kind of person, she wants to be the best at everything she does,” Mike Fries said.

She was clearly the best 110-pounder at the women’s championships, fighting her way to the title. Her fourth straight hairpin came in the final against Sofia Ferran of Hialeah Mater Lakes Academy.

While some state champions jump into the arms of their coaches after the final, Tiana “just got sideways, like it was a double meet,” Mike said. “It was almost like she was expecting it.”

She did it.

Mike Fries was a freshman and sophomore state finalist at Flagler Palm Coast and won state titles as a junior and senior. In his senior season in 1999, he pinned his four state opponents in a total of 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

As the playoffs approached, Tiana told her father that she was going to top her accomplishments.

“She was going to win eight rings (over her high school career),” Mike said. “Four individuals and four states. She kept repeating it. »

She didn’t just say it. She did the extra work she needed. She stayed late after practice to do more exercises and run more sprints. She went home and ran three miles. She did push-ups in the house and pull-ups in the garage.

“For the past few weeks, Mike has probably been more excited for her than he has been in his entire wrestling career,” Matanzas coach TJ Gillin said. “(Tiana’s title) probably means more than any state title he’s ever won.”

“She’s the kind of person, she wants to be the best at everything she does.”

MIKE FRIES on his daughter, state champion Tiana Fries

And while the Pirates didn’t win the state tag team championship this year to give it one of those eight rings, they did come close, finishing third with 66 points, one point behind second-placed Ponte Vedra. Orlando Freedom ran away with the championship with 142 points.

Three other girls from Matanzas won medals. Freshman Mariah Mills placed third at 105 pounds, winning the consolation final by a 6-2 decision. Junior Isabella Tietje ranks sixth at 135 pounds. And rookie Christina Borgmann ranks eighth at 120 pounds.

Tiana’s title was all the more remarkable as she broke her ankle in a tournament in November and didn’t start her first season until January. She lost her first two matches and her confidence started to waver.

It was then that Gillin asked White if Fries and Mills could wrestle the boys in the regional dueling competition. They beat their opponents in the regional quarter-finals and in the regional semi-finals.

After beating the Boys, Fries hasn’t lost another game all season.

“She’s the first state wrestling champion in county history,” Gillin said. “There’s no nerve with this kid, which is very rare. She just went out there and did what she said she would do all year.