When Abe and Rachel Mills decided to have a family they were not kidding! With six children ages 12, 13, 16, 18, 20 and 22 they have quite a family. With this many children usually comes sports of some type. Wrestling is one of the sports some of the Mills boys chose and some of their siblings followed their lead. Jordan Mills started wrestling a little bit when he was a youngster. He wrestled in a few AAU youth tournaments but it wasn’t something he was really serious about at the time. That came a little later when he entered middle school. In 7th grade he started getting serious about wrestling and he knew if he were to put the time into it he would be able to achieve great things.
Mariah Mills grew up around the mats watching her brothers wrestle. She said she never realized girls could wrestle too. She had seen some girls wrestling, but still thought of it as more of a boys sport. Then at the end of her 7th grade year she was at another tournament watching her brother wrestle. She noticed they had a girls tournament going on at the same time as the boys tournament. Two separate tournaments, one for boys and another for the girls. She was intrigued and her brothers coach had told her in the past that she should give wrestling a try. At that time she thought he was just messing with her. When she saw the tournament just for the girls, she decided she would give it a shot. She started to wrestle and she fell in love with it immediately. So much so that she skipped the 8th grade just to be able to wrestle as a freshman in high school for the very first year that girls wrestling was an FHSAA sanctioned sport.
I asked Jordan and Mariah if they train anywhere else other than at Matanzas. Jordan stated he only trains with Matanzas and has been there all four year of his high school career. He went on to tell me that Coach Mike Fries and Coach TJ Gillin are the reasons he is a state champion. He also said ” There’s no way I could have done it without them both”. Mariah said ” Matanzas is the first team I ever joined and is still the only team I have been on. During the off-season our team is called Legends Athletics and we are coached by Coach Fries, Gillin, Jeremiah, Rizzo, and Josh & Caleb Bower. All of my coaches, especially Coach Fries and Gillin have been a huge part of my successes as a
wrestler! They all push me to be the best I can be!
Jordan and Mariah know the importance of helping each other and it has transformed into their wrestling as well. Jordan said “Mariah pushes me to do more outside of practice. I see her work ethic and it drives me to work as hard as she does. Nobody outworks Mariah Mills”. When I asked Mariah how Jordan helps her she said “With us being so far apart in weight, we aren’t able to really wrestle with each other. However, since I started wrestling, Jordan has been a huge help to me. He has taught me new moves and has helped me to become more and more aggressive.” She further stated “He kind of showed me the ropes to wrestling and helped me to get a good start on my wrestling career. I think we help each other the most when we show support and encouragement to each other”.
Both Jordan and Mariah Mills had a great season leading up to the state championships. They knew they could make Florida wrestling history by becoming the very first brother/sister duo to win state titles together on the same night. It’s been done numerous times by brother duo’s, but this would be the first time ever for a brother and sister. They have spoken about it all season, but talking about it is one thing, doing it is completely different. Jordan spoke about it briefly and said “Knowing that we could be the first brother/sister sibling duo to become state champions together didn’t put any extra pressure on me, but it definitely inspired me more. To win it with my sister Mariah would be amazing”.
Mariah felt the same way. She said “It didn’t add any additional pressure for me; however, it was awesome to think about that possibilty of winning it together.
It gave me more motivation because it wasn’t just winning it for me, but I would be winning it for my brother, my family, my coaches, and my teammates!”
Mariah told me that she and Jordan would talk about this after every tournament. They would tell each other after every tournament that they were going to win state titles together. Mariah further stated ” We were going to will it to happen and we talked about it as if were already set in stone”. I guess with that kind of mind set, Jordan and Mariah were destined to get it done and make history.
Both Jordan and Mariah Mills are regarded as two of the top wrestlers in the state. Both were ranked #1 in TheFloridaWrestlingRoom.com’s official state rankings all season long in their respective weight classes. They both competed at The Knockout Christmas Classic, which is arguably the toughest high school tournament is the southeast. This tournament draws teams from all over the southeast and has some of the top wrestlers in the country in attendance. It is said by many that if you make the podium at The Knockout, you have a great shot at placing very high or even winning at your state championships. Not only did Jordan and Mariah wrestle at The Knockout, they both placed first and won their respective divisions. It looked very good for the both of them heading into the post season.
Everyone knows when you hear the names Jordan or Mariah Mills, you think about great wrestlers. Hard working athletes with tremendous goals and the work ethic to attain these goals. So I asked them both what they would want people to know about them as regular people, not just elite wrestlers. Jordan stated ” I really want people to know and understand that my parents raised me right. I want people to recognize me as a respectful and kind human being.”
Mariah told me “One thing that we live by and prioritize over everything else is God. I pray before every match for strength and peace. I also pray afterwards to thank the Lord for the amazing experience to have been able to wrestle. I always say “All Glory to God” because I believe that none of this would be possible without him”. This is how Abe and Rachel have raised all of their six children. They were taught to love one another and be kind to everyone. To have faith and to always give back to others. These are the values the Mills kids were raised with.
I asked Jordan and Mariah how important it is to them for the younger kids who may look up to them know they aren’t just great wrestlers but also good people? Jordan said “Wrestling is all about respect, and I’m just grateful for God putting me in the position to inspire younger kids and to be able to show them that being respectful is very important.”
Mariah told me ” For me, I would love to be called a great human being over being called a great athlete any day. My mom and dad tell us to win and lose humbly. I think that’s super important because, especially in contact sports like wrestling, it’s easy to get mad and get wrapped up in the trash talk. This can then affect the way you act outside of the sport and to me that’s worse than losing.”
With most high level, successful athletes, especially in the sport of wrestling parental support is extremely important. I have spoken to many great athletes who make it a point to mention that. Without their family support they felt they may not have been as successful. When I asked Jordan and Mariah about the support from their family, they had similar feelings about it. Jordan told me “My family always has my back, and they support me wherever I go. Knowing that I had them yelling for me just gave me the extra drive to win.”
Mariah went on to say “My family has always been super close my whole life. We always support each other no matter what. Whether it’s sports, academics, or any other type of success, my family will congratulate me and support me no matter how big or small. This gives me more of a reason to keep going when it gets really hard or difficult.”
Leading up to the state championships, in order to qualify you must place in the top four at your district tournament. If you do this, you advance to the regional tournament where you would again need to place in the top four. Placing in the top four at the regional tournament qualifies you to compete at the state championships. The state of Florida is broken up into three classes. 1A, 2A and 3A are the classes for the boys. The girls have just the 1A class because it’s a newly sanctioned sport and they just don’t have the numbers yet to require more than one classification. They will in the future because girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the country, by far.
Jordan competes for Matanzas HS which is in the 2A clasification. They are broken up according to population and school size. 2A are the medium schools, while 1A has the smallest population and 3A has the largest. There’s really no difference in the classes as far as competition is concerned. Some years 1A has some of the toughest weight clases in the state and some years it could be 2A or 3A having more of the top level wrestlers. It’s pretty even for the most part but you’ll always see one of the classifications with a weight class or two that is just loaded with top level kids. But again, all in all it’s pretty even and it’s tough to place at the state championships no matter what clasification you are in.
For both boys and girls wrestling there are four regions in each clasification. The top four from each region will advance to the state championships. So each weight class at the state tournament will have the 16 best wrestlers from the four different regions.
At the 2024 FHSAA IBT State Championships, Jordan qualified for 2A in the 190 pound weight class. Mariah qualified for the 1A girls in the 110 pound weight class. Many regarded the girls 110 pound weight class as one of the toughest girls weight classes at the state championships. They both placed first at their respective weight classes at their regional championships to qualify for the state tournament.
The way the FHSAA does the state brackets is, if you place first in your region, your first match at the state tournament will be against a wrestler who placed fourth in one of the other three regions. If you placed second in your region than your first match will be against a wrestler who placed third in one of the other three regions. So, by placing first at regionals, it is basically like being seeded one of the top four wrestlers in the bracket at the state tournament. Both Jordan and Mariah won their regions so they would both face a 4th place wrestler from another region.
Mariah would face Zoey McDonald from Palmetto Ridge HS in her first match at the state championships. Mariah went straight to work and pinned McDonald in just 1:10 of the very first period. She was on her way to a very good state tournament. Jordan would face Trey Hill of Naples HS in his first match. Jordan did what little sister did in her first match, by pinning Hill in just 1:41 of the first period.
In round two of the state championships, also knows as the quarter finals, Mariah Mills would face Zoe Delgado of Florida Christian School. Mariah went through Delgado pretty handily and was able to end that match by pinning Delgado in 3:56 of the third period. Two matches and two pins. Not too shabby. She definitely had the attention of the other girls on her side of the bracket.
Jordan was next up for his second match. In the quarter finals Jordan would face Brody Switzer of Pasco HS. Switzer had a record of 35-4 at the state tournament and was looking to end Jordan’s run for a state title. Jordan had other ideas of how this match would go. He pinned Switzer in just 40 seconds of the second period. With both of his wins, he would advance to the state semi-finals. Mariah had also advanced to the girls state semi-finals. It looked pretty good for them to make history by becoming the first ever brother/sister duo to win state titles together. It looked good, but nothing was guaranteed. They would both need to win their next matches in the semi-finals.
The following day was the state semi-finals and the winners of each semi-finals match would advance to the state finals for a shot at winning an individual state title.
Mariah was up first and in her semi-finals match she would face Jazlyn Diaz of Riverdale HS. Diaz is a very tough girl who had been ranked as high as #3 in the TFWR state rankings. Diaz was also predictied to finish in the top four in her weight class at the state championships. She was no pushover and Mariah would need to wrestle her best in order to get past Jazlyn Diaz. Mariah was definitely the favorite to win the match but in wrestling, when you get to the semi-finals anything can happen. Mariah went out there and took care of business as usual and was able to win by pinning Diaz in the first period! This win over Diaz was her third pin in three matches. She was having a hell of a state tournament and she would now get ready to wrestle in the 110 pound state finals for a shot a winning the state title.
Jordan wrestled next and he would face a very tough Jett McCauley of perennial powerhouse Charlotte HS. McCauley was ranked all year long in the TFWR state rankings and would be no pushover for anyone. Jordan went out there to do what he does best and he did just that. He pinned McCauley in 4:18 of the third period to advance to the 2A 190 state finals! The dream of making Fllorida history with his sister Mariah was a reality and everyone was now chattering about it. You could hear everyone talking in the stands about this brother/sister duo from Matanzas who could possibly win state titles together.
The state finals is always a pretty cool thing to see. Especially the Parade of Champions, as all of the state finalists from all of the different classifications walk out to the only four mats left on the arena floor. 1A, 2A, 3A and the 1A girls all have their own mat in which the state finals will be wrestled on. The kids who made the finals all face off and shake hands prior to the state finals matches starting.
First up would be Mariah. She would face the #2 ranked wrestler in the state, Erin Rizzuto of Ponte Vedra HS. Rizzuto had been ranked #1 at 115 pounds most of the seson but decided to drop down a weight class to 110 for the post season. When she dropped down to 110 she was ranked #2 in the state behind Mariah who had been at #1 all season long. This was a highly anticipated match and after speaking to numerous people and asking them who they thought would win this match up, most said Mariah Mills. There was a good number of people who said they thought Rizzuto was the type of wrestler who could catch Mills with a big move and wasn’t afraid to try something big. They said IF Rizzuto could keep the match close, she could then try something big to catch Mills with and win the match. Unfortunately for Rizzuto this wasn’t how the match went. Although Erin Rizzuto is very tough and will wrestle anyone you put in front of her, Mills proved to be too much for Erin to handle that night. Mills pinned Rizzuto in 3:43 of the second period to win the state title. Half of what needed to happened just happened. Now Jordan would need to win his finals match for the two to make history.
Jordan Mills would wrestle Sawyer VanRider of New Smyrna Beach HS for the 2A 190 pound state title. Mills had beaten VanRider two times previously. He had beaten him two weeks prior to the state tournament in the district finals and then again the following week in the regional finals. In the district finals Mills won 4-2. The next match in the regional finals he beat VanRider 11-5. But this match was not a guaranteed win just because he had beaten him the past two weeks. As a matter of fact, that would make winning again that much tougher. At this level, to beat a good wrestler such as Sawyer VanRider three times in a row is a very difficult thing to do. It’s hard enough to beat anyone three times in a row but when it’s a kid like VanRider, it’s even harder. He is a strong, scrappy kid and he won’t stop coming at you. Mills would have his hands full and would need to wrestle a great match in order to get a third win in a row over VanRider.
The match started and about a minute into the match, Jordan attempted what looked like an outside sweep single to VanRiders left leg. As soon as Mills grabbed VanRiders leg he started called for injury time but the official did not see it. The action continued and VanRider sprawled and Mills sat to his own butt while still calling for injury time. The official finally realized Mills was injured and the match was stopped for injury time.
As Mills had VanRiders leg, his right shoulder which was already in a shoulder brace from a previous injury, looked like it may have popped out and was dislocated. His arm was hanging and the trainers came on the mat to attend to him. The trainer later stated she popped the shoulder back in and when she did, she heard a crunching noise. Mills was not going to stop wrestling so he took his injury time and and told them he would attempt to finish the match. Now, when something like this happens and injury time is called, the other wrestler is awarded points. In this situation he was given two for a takedown and another three points when injury time was called because of the possibilty of Mills being put on his back, had injury time not been called.
The match continued and when they started the match back up VanRider was winning 5-0. That’s a big deficit to try and come back from, especially when you’re injured and you’re wrestling a kid like VanRider. There was 1 minute and 4 seconds left in the first period when the match was started again. Mills was down and Sawyer took the top position. Mills escaped with about 43 seconds left in the first period to make it a 5-1 match at this point. With about 30 seconds left in the first period, Mills fired off three shots to try and score. VanRider was defending the shots but took no shots of his own in the last 30 seconds.
Period 2 started and Mills had choice. He chose down and Vanrider again took the top position. Mills exploded on the whistle and VanRider lifted Mills up and mat returned him straight to his injured shoulder. Mills again exploded up and this time was able to get the escape and was awarded the 1 point to make it 5-2 with VanRider still winning.
Mills was attemping to score but VanRider was digging in the underhooks to slow Mills down. Pretty smart wrestling actually, but Mills was able to get out of the underhooks and fire off another shot. He had a single leg on VanRider as VanRider was on the edge of the mat. Mills was trying to drag him back in bounds to score and eventually he was able to drag him in just enough in order to secure a takedown as VanRider was out of bounds but Mills’s feet remained in bounds so he was awarded the two for the takedown. It was now 5-4 with VanRider still ahead by one point. Mills had scored 4 unanswered point but was still losing the match.
With about 1 minute and 15 seconds remaining in period 2, Vanrider would start down after Mills secured the takedown out of bounds. Mills cut VanRider loose to try and take him down again but gave him the 1 point for the escape so he now trailed VanRider 6-4 with a little over a minute remaining in the second period. After attemping three shots, with just 39 seconds remaining in the second period, Mills was able to get another takedown for two more points. The match was now tied 6-6. The takedown was also out of bounds with Mills keeping both feet in, so VanRider would start on bottom again for the last 39 seconds of the second period. Mills rode him out the remainder of the second period and the third and final period would start with a 6-6 tie.
VanRider chose down for the third period and after a few seconds of Mills riding him, VanRider was able to get to his feet and Mills cut him loose. It was now 7-6 in favor of VanRider and both guys were on their feet. With about 40 seconds left on the clock, Mills shot in and was able to get a single and had the leg up in the air while VanRider was hopping towards the edge of the mat. Mills was attempting to pull him back in but VanRider was still trying to get out of bounds. With 26 seconds and after finally getting out of bounds, the officials called VanRider for his first stalling call.
They were brought back to the center and it was still 7-6 in favor of VanRider with just 26 seconds left in the match. With the clock ticking down Mills shot in again and VanRider again sunk in double under hooks and stayed in that position as Mills was trying to push towards the center and get free from the underhooks. VanRider continued to push Mills to the edge of the mat while still in the underhook position. At this time the official called VanRider for his second stalling call and awarded Mills one point to tie the match 7-7 with only :07 seconds remaining in regulation time.
The match was now in overtime and the first one to score in the one minute overtime period would win and become the state champion. The whistle blew and with about 30 seconds left in the one minute overtime period, Mills was able to get another single. Again, he had the single up high as VanRider was able to hop on his one leg to defend getting taken down. He defended Mills’ takedown attempt and the first overtime ended. The match was still 7-7 and they would now go into double overtime.
Mills won the coin toss and deferred to VanRider who chose down. Mills would start on top and the whistle blew. Mills road out VanRider for the 30 seconds and now VanRider would have his opportunity. In the 3rd overtime period Mills chose down but VanRider told the officials to start neutral, therefore he would allow Mills the one point and they would both start on their feet. VanRider felt his chances were better to award the one point to Mills and then try to take him down to win by one rather than try and escape. So, with the free point given to Mills with VanRiders decison to remain neutral, it was now 8-7 in favor of Mills. VanRider ws unable to take down Mills in the 30 second period and Mills won the match 8-7 in UTB overtime. Mills had finally captured that elusive state title!
As Mills was celebrating with his coaches, his sister Mariah had run over and the two hugged each other as they had just become the very first brother/sister duo to win state titles together on the same night. Florida wrestling history was made. The entire arena appeard to be watching that match and I saw numerous sections standing and clapping as they watched brother and sister hug each other while crying tears of joy. It was a beautiful thing to watch and I don’t know how long it will be before something like this is done again, if ever. I am very happy I was there to witness Jordan and Mariah Mills win state wrestling titles together to get their names in the history books.
One thing worth mentioning is this was Jordans last attempt at winning a state title because he was a senior. More impressive is the fact that he is also a senior in college too. He started college classes as a 12 year old and will graduate high school and in a few months. He will also receive his batchelors degree for college!! What an incredible feat and very impressive. Not to be outdone by her older brother, Mariah Mills is a junior in high school but she is also a sophomore in college because she dual enrolled as well!
I am very happy I was able to write this story for everyone to see. If you do not know the Mills Family, you know a little bit more about them now. This is a family worthy of respect and if at the very least, a big smile when you meet them and a pat on the back for an incredible job.
