HARRISON – The Washington Lady Lions sent six wrestlers to the OHSAA Regional tournament at Harrison High School on Sunday. Of the six, three qualified for the OHSAA State wrestling tournament which will be held from March 10-12 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus. Those three include Leah Marine, Lyndyn Gibbs, and Brooklyn Wade.
As a team, Washington finished tied for sixth place with a total of 71 points. Harrison won the tournament with 242 points, followed by Lebanon with 148, West Union with 83, Centerville with 80, and Clermont Northeastern with 79 points.
At 110 pounds, Leah Marine came in fourth place. She went 3-2 on the day with two pinfall victories. Her third win of the day was a thrilling 4-2 victory in overtime, which punched her ticket to the state tournament. Marine would lose in the third-place match to June Pyles-Treser, 6-3.
At 120 pounds, Lyndyn Gibbs finished in second place. She went 3-1 on the day with three pinfall victories. Her lone loss came in the championship match to Lacie Knick from Northmont High School by major decision, 18-9.
At 125 pounds, Alicia Naverette went 0-2, losing two tough matches.
At 155 pounds, Mariah “Eden” Campbell went 2-2 for the day. Both of her losses were very close matches throughout. Campbell was the lone senior on the roster for the Lady Lions.
At 170 pounds, Janessa Ayler went 0-2, ending her season with the Lady Lions.
At 235 pounds, Brooklyn Wade took third place. She went 4-1 on the day with all four wins coming via pinfall. Wade pinned Alexia Cowan from West Union in 53 seconds to take home the bronze medal.
Washington head coach Wes Gibbs shared some comments following the event.
“We had a great day as a team, tied for 6th with 6 girls out of 46 teams. We are sending 3 to the Schott, for the very first OHSAA Girls wrestling championships. Next week has been the goal all year, big time stage with big time wrestling, hopefully we bring home some hardware.”
He spoke about the performances of the Lady Lions.
“Leah started off very strong, pinning her way to the semifinals. We fell short in the semifinals, but she came back to wrestle back-to-back overtime matches. Lyndyn became our first two-time state qualifier (one in OHSWCA and one in OHSAA) with a pin in the semifinals. She had a really good match in the finals. It’s one we want back and hopefully we will get it next weekend. Brooke made her way to the semifinals as well. We had a good game plan against Jessica Edwards from Harrison. The match was decided in the toss for first choice. Brooke is a very undersized heavyweight, and being on the bottom didn’t work out for us. She battled back and ended up getting third. We also had Janessa Ayler, Alicia Naverette and our senior Mariah Campbell in action today. Mariah won some big matches, and scored some good team points, but lost in the third round of the consolation bracket. She’s had a heck of a season and I’m hoping she isn’t done wrestling. In the 2 seasons we’ve had her, she’s grown so much.”
The OHSAA girls state wrestling tournament is set to run simultaneously with the boys tournament, with both events beginning on Friday, March 10 and concluding on Sunday, March 12.