TACOMA – Two totally different mindsets, one championship vacation spot.
Aliyha Vargas and Victoria Nicacio approached Mat Basic in a different way. But on Saturday evening, each left the Tacoma Dome as state wrestling champions for Washougal.
Regardless of being the top-ranked wrestler in Class 2A at 145 kilos, Vargas approached every match as if she was the underdog.
The consequence? Vargas rolled by means of bracket pin after pin after pin. Actually, the two minutes, 55 seconds it took her to pin Squalicum’s Brooke Legoe within the title match was her longest of 4 within the match.
“It’s not about the placing, it’s about the mindset,” Vargas stated. “Whether it was easy or hard, I still pushed myself each match.”
Nicacio, alternatively, may certainly have approached her 120-pound title match because the underdog. She confronted Ridgefield’s Lillian Hulegaard, who had pinned Nicacio in lower than a minute of their two earlier matches.
But by means of her belief in her technique and the work she had put in, Nicacio stepped on the mat with supreme confidence.
“I had already won it my head, then I wrestled like it,” she stated.
Certainly, Nicacio jumped to a 6-1 lead within the first interval then held on to win 9-3. It capped a stellar match for the junior and harkened again to 2 early-season wins over Hulegaard.
Washougal women wrestling coach Heather Carver stated the 5 matches between Nicacio and Hulegaard this season have been a case examine in technique and changes.
“Lillian, as a true competitor does, said ‘I’m switching up my strategy and I’m going to find a way to win,” Carver stated. “What Victoria and I talked about for this match was going back to believing in her gifts and in her plan.”
Nicacio credit lots of her items to coaching together with her older brothers, Andres and Armando, who each wrestled at Mat Basic for Union.
However little sister is the one one within the household with a state championship. It’s an accomplishment she credit to her religion, her household and her teammates.
“Wrestling, it really is life,” she stated. “The way you live is going to reflect on the way you wrestle. If you put in the hard work and you’re well-disciplined, you’re going to have a well-disciplined life. That leads to victory. That leads to what a winner is.”
Nicacio’s win set the tone for Vargas, whose championship match was roughly half-hour later.
“It really gave me that motivation,” Vargas stated. “Two team captains, we’ve got to get this win.”
And people wins crafted a stellar finish to the season for Washougal women wrestling.
“Two very different wrestlers, two very different stories, but the heart is the same,” Carver stated. “I’m totally over the moon for Washougal High School and those special girls.”
Woodland’s McReynolds caps profession as champion
Towards the top-ranked 115-pounder in Class 2A, Woodland senior Couley McReynolds figured the state championship match could be lengthy and shut.
It was over in lower than a minute.
McReynolds capped her third Mat Basic together with her first state title, pinning Centralia’s Eva Reinitz simply 51 seconds into their title match.
After failing to succeed in the trophy around her first two occasions, McReynolds lastly discovered the puzzle that’s successful in entrance of 1000’s of spectators.
“Last year I was ranked fourth, but I ended up getting really nervous,” McReynolds stated. “The Dome is scary. Me being able to confidently wrestle and believe I could do it is a huge change.”
McReynolds additionally wanted lower than a minute to pin her semifinal opponent Lilly Hopkins of Orting. However that got here after an inconceivable 14-13 win within the quarterfinals, the place she scored 4 factors within the last 25 seconds to beat Savannah Taylor of Rogers-Spokane.
Now a state champion, Reynolds deliberate to have fun with ice cream on the drive residence.
“I’m probably going to have the biggest smile on my face that I ever have,” she stated.