Plano East incoming senior Bilal Habib, right, earned fifth place at 106 pounds in the Class 6A state wrestling tournament. Photo courtesy Niall Morga
By David Wolman
It was a banner year for Plano East.
The Panthers enjoyed success across the sports spectrum, including in winter sports.
The Murphy Monitor will take a closer examination of boys and girls basketball, swimming and wrestling.
Boys basketball
Matt Wester’s final season as Panthers head coach proved to be another successful one.
Despite losing the team’s all-time leading scorer and current Texas State forward, DJ Hall, to graduation, the Panthers fired on all cylinders.
Plano East won a share of the District 6-6A title and finished with a 27-8 record. It was the fifth straight season of at least 20 wins for the Panthers.
Defense was the catalyst for Plano East’s run to the district title. The Panthers held opponents to an average of 47 points per game.
Senior point guard Jayden Parker fueled Plano East’s defensive efforts, earning 6-6A Defensive Player of the Year for his efforts.
Plano East was unable to keep pace with Coppell in a 69-56 bi-district playoff loss.
Girls basketball
One year after Plano East made a historic run to its first-ever appearance in the state semifinals, the success continued for the Lady Panthers.
Fueled by a stingy defense that held opponents to an average of 48.4 points per game, Plano East finished 28-8 overall and perfect 16-0 in District 6-6A play to capture an undefeated championship.
Although the Lady Panthers’ season ended after a hard-fought 50-44 loss versus eventual Class 6A Division I state runner-up Flower Mound in bi-district, it was another big year on the court for Plano East.
Plano East had a total of eight players earn nods on the All-6-6A team.
Incoming junior guard Arianna Robinson claimed individual MVP honors after averaging 26.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 steals.
Swimming
Plano East incoming senior William Prasetyo outlasted a tough field at the Region II-6A meet at the Lewisville ISD Westside Aquatic Center to earn second place in the 200 free with a personal-best time of 1:41.99.
At the state meet, Prasetyo finished 20th in the 200 free preliminaries with a 1:42.77.
Prasetyo was one of several Panthers who swam at the regional meet. He, Ben Tran, Paul Chu and Winston Le placed seventh in the 200 free relay and eighth in the 400 free relay. Le added an eighth-place finish in the 100 fly and 11th in the 200 individual medley, while Chu took fourth in the 100 breast and 14th in the 100 free.
On the girls’ side, Emma Looney placed seventh in 1-meter diving. Skylar Garris finished in 11th. Abby Wesneski placed seventh in the 100 backstroke and teamed with Kaitlyn Vo, Christine Bui and Purbaaz Chahal to earn 11th in the 200 medley relay, while Malini Mulford placed 11th in the 500 free.
Wrestling
After missing the cut for the state tournament by one win during his freshman and sophomore seasons, Plano East incoming senior Bilal Habib earned fifth place at 106 pounds at the Class 6A state tournament at the Berry Center in Cypress.
Habib finished his junior season with a 30-5 record and won both the District 6-6A and Region II-6A titles at 106 pounds.
Cameron Tran (113 pounds), Ian Garcia (165), Andy Santamaria (190), Jacob Caranfa (138) and Daniel Hartai (150) also qualified for the regional tournament.
On the girls’ side, Jessica Mathew won the district tournament title at 155 pounds. Natahlia Iztep took third at 115 pounds and Sania Kasturi captured fourth place at 125.
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