COLUMBUS — Washington Freshman Leah Marine advanced to the second day of the inaugural OHSAA Girls State Wrestling Tournament on Friday after losing her opening match. Marine rebounded by pinning junior Melanie Toronto of Lancaster in the first period.

Leah talked about what it means to make it to the second day of the tournament.

“Going into that match, you know that you’re either gonna be done for the season, or you’re gonna have another day at state. It’s really up to you to choose whether you want that to motivate you or let it scare you. I was proud of myself because I let it motivate me, and I’m thankfully going on to the next day.”

Washington head coach Wes Gibbs talked about Marine.

“I’m proud of her. I’ve said it before, Leah’s only a second-year wrestler. She’s literally gone from not wrestling at all, to winning matches at the state meet as a freshman in a pretty tough weight class. There’s a saying that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard, and it’s defined in this sport every day. Leah is very talented, but she also works so hard.”

Assistant coach Craig Snyder gave some input regarding Marine.

“I’m proud of her because she lost a tough match and then was able to refocus and come back and I mean, just dominate that girl. She stuck with her hand fighting, and she was very aggressive throughout the match.”

Marine stated that one of her goals was to make it to the second day, a goal that she has officially met. She mentioned that her next goal is to make it onto the podium and finish in the top eight. If she wins her first match on Saturday, she is guaranteed to do just that.