Oregon (OSAA) girls wrestling state championships preview: West Linn’s Destiny Rodriguez headlines 7 nationally ranked wrestlers in field
The Oregon high school girls wrestling state championships take place Thursday in Culver. Here's a look at what to expect.
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Top seeds (returning champions in italics)
100 Chelo Garcia, Jr., Siletz Valley/Eddyville Charter
105 Kaylee Annis, Jr., Thurston
110 Analise Smith, Sr., Bend
115 Paige Chafin, Sr., Sweet Home
120 Haley Vann, Jr., Cleveland
125 Ayana Medina, Sr., Hillsboro
130 MacKenzie Shearon, Fr., Redmond
135 Makaila Takahashi, Sr., Forest Grove
140 Bella Amaro, Sr., Oregon City
145 Averie Stockwell, Sr., Thurston
155 Destiny Rodriguez, Jr., West Linn
170 Kami Hart, Sr., Sweet Home
190 Ella Taplin, Sr., Forest Grove
235 Faith Wooley, Sr., Liberty
Other returning champions
120 Estella Gutches, Jr., North Medford
125 Sophia Redwine, Sr., Newberg
Most state qualifiers
1, (tie) North Medford and St. Helens 6. 3, Hillsboro 5. 4, (tie) Bend, Forest Grove, Grant Union, La Pine, McKay, Newport, Taft and Thurston 4.
What to watch
Uneasy lies the crown on the head of 2-time champion Thurston
Two-time champion Thurston will not have an easy go of earning a three-peat. The Colts have only four wrestlers in the field, and while two earned top seeds and a third — freshman 130-pounder Kristal Zamora — is a No. 4, they might not have the depth to hold off North Medford, St. Helens or Hillsboro, all viable challengers to the crown.
Powerhouse finals await if form holds at 120, 125
Both the 120- and 125-pound weight classes could match a couple of returning champions in the title bout. At 120, Vann enters the state meet No. 8 at 117 in the USA Wrestling national rankings released February 11, where she could meet Gutches, the latest in her family to win a state title. Both Medina (No. 14 at 132) and Redwine (No. 24 at 122), the top two seeds at 125, enter the state meet with national rankings.
West Linn’s Rodriguez headlines 7 nationally ranked wrestlers in field
Rodriguez moved up one spot in USA Wrestling’s pound-for-pound national rankings to No. 11, although she remains No. 2 at 152 behind Amit Elor of Concord, Calif. She joins Annis (No. 22 at 106), Hillsboro’s Alice Rickett (No. 25 at 127 but the No. 2 seed behind Shearon at 130) and Amaro (No. 13 at 138) among other ranked wrestlers at Culver this week.
Former state champion Anna McDougal, a Central Linn senior who received honorable mention at 164, enters the state meet unseeded in the 170 bracket after losing to Tillamook’s Jennifer Delatorre in the district final.
