Liberty Bell’s Shelby White and Mariah Paz both finished near the top of the heap at a wrestling tournament Saturday (Dec. 21) at Newport High School.
Paz, a freshman wrestling at 105 pounds, pinned her first two opponents, from Newport and Tonasket, to earn the right to wrestle for the first-place medal, coach Jason Newman reported.
Paz took second place after getting pinned by her Quincy opponent, her coach said.
White also medaled, taking third place. The senior’s only loss came in her first match, against the eventual winner in the 135-pound weight class—a Spokane wrestler from North Central High School, Newman said.
White bounced back to win by pin in her two other matches. She defeated wrestlers from Newport and Moses Lake to earn the third-place medal.
The boys traveled to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for the much-anticipated Tri-State Tournament, Friday and Saturday (Dec. 20-21). The tournament’s name undersells itself, as wrestlers from Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon meet at North Idaho College for the annual tourney. Results from Coeur d’Alene were not available by press time.
The boys had a late addition to their schedule the previous weekend, sending two wrestlers on Dec. 14 to the Cashmere Invite.
Bodie Paul won all of his matches in Cashmere, coach Jonathan McMillan reported. He pinned a junior varsity wrestler from Connell and defeated a varsity Connell opponent, 8-1. In his final match at the Cashmere event, Paul faced league opponent Colby Guzman of Oroville and won a competitive match 6-3, McMillan said.
Noah Holston got off to a good start in Cashmere, defeating a Connell junior varsity wrestler and then Okanogan’s Sterling Rich, whom Holston pinned in the second period.
A varsity senior from Connell defeated Holston 8-1 in the Liberty Bell wrestler’s final match at Cashmere, McMillan said.
Holston, a sophomore, wrestled well in the loss, his coach said.
It was “a tough match, which was good for the young wrestler,” McMillan said.
The boys are scheduled to wrestle Saturday (Dec. 28) at the Royal High School Tournament in Royal City. The girls will wrestle on the same day at the Hanford Winter Cup.
