The Battle Ground girls were perfect in the finals Saturday night.
The Washougal girls were dominant in getting to the finals.
With six Panthers going the distance, Washougal won the team title at the second Clark County Girls Wrestling Tournament.
Freshmen Jessica Eakins (100 pounds) and Haven Camden (124) won championships for the Panthers, who totalled 101 points to edge Battle Ground with 92.
“I told the girls that we have the bodies, the talent, so we could push it,” Washougal coach Heather Carver said. “They did the work, and it came out for the Panthers.”
The Tigers went undefeated in the finals. Kassi Strano (106), Lourdes Arellano (112), Hannah Van Osdel (137), and Victoria Carlson (155) all won by pins.
“We only have five girls on the team, so if we got second, that’s amazing,” Strano said.
Stephanie Simon (145) of Evergreen, Tiffany Hu (118) of Union, and Carlson repeated as Clark County champions — the only three people in the world who can claim they have won at every Clark County Girls Wrestling Tournament.
“I’m kind of speechless,” Carlson said. “This makes it worth it. Wrestling is really, really hard. Moments like this make it worth it.”
Simon took time to promote the sport.
“I hope this tournament gets bigger and better,” she said. “Every girl who wants to be a part of this sport deserves to have competition.”
Of course, the freshmen at Washougal had no chance to win last year. But they appear to be on their way to impressive careers.
Camden won perhaps the most exciting match of the night — boys or girls — at Union High School. She led defending champion Kira Kelsey of Union 5-3, then got in trouble. Kelsey took down Camden and got a near-fall for an 8-5 advantage. Seconds later, Camden reversed things on Kelsey, then recorded the pin.
“I heard everyone yelling, and I just thought, ‘I can’t get pinned. I don’t care if I lost, but I just didn’t want to get pinned.’ I bridged as hard as I could,” Camden said.
Then she got the reversal.
Washougal was guaranteed the first win of the night when Eakins took on teammate Emily Alder.
“It was really fun going against one of my friends,” Eakins said.
Every winner had a story to tell.
“It’s a first time I’ve been crowned a champion in any tournament,” Van Osdel said. “This feels really good.”
Mountain View had three champions, with Danielle Higgins claiming the 130-pound title, Kearstin Williams ruling the 195-pound division, and Rose Eram at 265.
“It’s an overall amazing feeling knowing you are the best at something,” Higgins said.
Nicole Sharp of La Center was the champ at 170 pounds. Sharp and Eram were the only wrestlers in their weight classes in Clark County, but still were introduced in front of the crowd and applauded for their training. Both expect to find competition later in the season throughout the state.
Even if every bracket was not full, the sport is growing. The Panthers, Tigers, and Thunder — all with multiple winners Saturday night — can attest to that. And being part of this event for the second year is special to them.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Carver, the coach of the champions of Clark County.
