Shelby White (shown here with her parents) was honored as the Liberty Bell wrestling team’s lone senior on senior night, Dec. 10, in the school’s gym.
Liberty Bell wrestling was strong on Dec. 10 at its first home tournament in two years: eight wins, and seven pins, in nine matches.
The mixer at the Liberty Bell High School gym attracted wrestlers from Lake Roosevelt, Okanogan, Brewster and Pateros.
Freshman Mariah Paz, wrestling at 110 pounds, pinned both of her opponents: Janely Vizcarra of Okanogan and Marisa Medina of Brewster.
Shelby White, the team’s only senior, didn’t spend a lot of time wrestling at the mixer. One of her two opponents didn’t make the trip due to injury. In the second round, White (135 pounds) pinned Okanogan’s Tatiana Carson 26 seconds into their match.
White spent more time on the mat standing next to her parents, Tom and Erin White, with a bouquet of flowers in her hand. While Liberty Bell is working to schedule a possible second home wrestling match, school officials decided to hold the traditional senior night at last week’s mixer.
On the boys’ side, Bodie Paul got two pins, against Lake Roosevelt wrestlers Dylan Wiles and Kaiden Palmer. Paul was listed as 160 pounds against Wiles but wrestled up at 170 pounds to go against Palmer.
Noah Holstrom (170) pinned Palmer of Lake Roosevelt in the first round and then defeated Sergio Galactia, also of Lake Roosvelt, 11-1.
Cody White (126) pinned Teyten Flores, another member of a large Lake Roosevelt squad, in round one. Cody White lost in round two to Lake Roosevelt’s Robert Thomas, 4-5, on a last-second escape.
The boys’ next event is the Tri-State Tournament, Friday and Saturday (Dec. 20-21) at North Idaho College.
Shelby White and Paz wrestled Wednesday night (Dec. 11) at Oroville, then Paz competed Saturday (Dec. 14) at a tournament in Warden.
In Oroville, Paz lost her first match to Tonasket’s Cailee Denison, who was a state participant last year. Paz pinned Medina of Brewster, for the second night in a row, in her second match.
White faced two Oroville wrestlers on their home mat, pinning Melinda Clark in the first period of their match and then losing by pin to Taralynn Fox. Fox earned a sixth-place medal at state a year ago, coach Jason Newman said.
Paz split four matches Saturday at Warden. She pinned wrestlers from Quincy and Warden, coach Newman said, lost by pin to an Othello wrestler, and lost 8-9 in overtime to a girl from Chiawana High School in Pasco.
Next on the girls’ schedule is a tournament Saturday (Dec. 21) at Newport High School.
