High school wrestling state championships to be held at the Tacoma Dome this week

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

The Prairie Falcons have recent history.

The Prairie Falcons have present-day momentum, too.

And the Prairie Falcons are ready to fly high in the Tacoma Dome this week at Mat Classic.

Oh, they won’t be alone for the state championships of high school wrestling. In all, 92 boys and girls wrestlers from Clark County schools, including Woodland, are in the state championship brackets. That does not include the many alternates, hoping to be called into action.

A year ago, Clark County celebrated three individual state champions. One graduated. The other two are back, representing Prairie.

Faith Tarrant is 28-0 this season, hoping to win her second consecutive girls state championship. 

She is also looking for a first. Well, in a way.

Girls wrestling, growing for ages, took a huge step this season with wrestling administrators in the state. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has added one more classification to girls wrestling.

In the past, it was one class for all girls, regardless of the size of their schools.

This year, there will be a larch-school bracket — for Classes 4A and 3A — and a small-school bracket for 2A, 1A, and below. 

A year ago, Tarrant stunned the dome with her state championship run. A freshman at the time, and back in the sport for the first time in three years, she started slow that seaon. Oh, but what a finish. 

This year? She is the clear No. 1 going into Mat Classic with a 28-0 record in her 235-pound weight class. She is also ranked No. 1 by the Washington Wrestling Report.

Alex Ford went into state last year ranked fifth by the report. He acknowledged he wasn’t really sure he could win it all … until he did.

This year, he has had to bounce back from injuries sustained during football season. But he won a regional championship last week and he heads into the Class 3A 170-pound bracket ranked No. 2 by the WWR.

Prairie getting announced as a winner at regionals was a common theme. In all, four boys and Tarrant claimed individual regional titles. Joining Ford as regional champs were Amir Lisichenko at 145 pounds, Mason Frei and 160, and Seth Blick at 195.

In all, nine Prairie boys qualified for Class 3A state, the most among Clark County programs.

The Camas boys have eight in the 4A bracket. Mountain View has eight boys in the 3A bracket. And Washougal leads the way with eight boys in the 2A bracket. The Panthers also qualified three girls, giving the school 11 representatives.

In Class 1A, La Center is sending four boys to state, and all four of them are on winning streaks. Malachi Wallway, ranked No. 2 by WWR at 120 pounds, Aidan Watson (126 pounds), Isaac Chromey (152), and Lane Roberts (220) all won regional championships last week.

Mat Classic, which holds the state tournaments in ever classification under one roof — the Tacoma Dome — starts Friday and concludes Saturday.

Below is a list of the 92 wrestlers from Clark County schools. Two wrestlers from Clark County are ranked No. 1 by the Washington Wrestling Report: Tarrant of Prairie and JJ Schoenlein of Skyview. 

For more information on Mat Classic, go to the WIAA’s wrestling page at: https://wiaa.com/subcontent.aspx?SecID=319

Boys Wrestling

(Top-4 rankings from Washington Wrestling Report in parentheses)
(Regional Champions noted)

Class 4A

Camas:

113: Kian Athen
120: Alec Fraser
152: Beau Harlan
160: Simon Jarrell (4); Olajuwon Sobomehin
170: Jackson Lougen (3)
182: Omar Shaheen
195: Elliott Scott

Skyview

106: Keegan Faust; Jaxon McAtee
138: Owen Pritchard (2)
170: JJ Schoenlein (1) (2023 Regional Champion)

Union

132: Noah Koyama (2) (2023 Regional Champion)
182: Alexander Olson
220: Clayton Maus
285: Kayden Miller

Class 3A

Evergreen

113: Isaac Miller
126: Kenyon Boyer
145: Felix Estrada
220: Makhi Miller

Heritage

182: Isaiah James
195: Tate Steinbach; Jaidin Compton
285: Austin Steinbach (2023 Regional Champion)

Mountain View

120: Joseph Wiessman
132: Jeffrey Chilson (2023 Regional Champion)
138: Kingston McPherson
152: Nathan Wadleigh (2023 Regional Champion)
170: Elijah Mar
182: Hector Hernandez
195: Rylan Reinebach
220: Ayden Denbo

Prairie

106: Alex Ovando
113: James Stager
126: Evan Sturdivant
138: Nicholas Crousore
145: Amir Lisichenko (2023 Regional Champion)
152: Malik Horne
160: Mason Frei (4) (2023 Regional Champion)
170: Alex Ford (2) (2023 Regional Champion) (Defending State Champion)
195: Seth Blick (2023 Regional Champion) 

Class 2A

Columbia River

106: Aidan Deeney
145: Tennyson Kurtz (4)
152: Gage Newman (2023 Regional Champion)
160: Jacob Boothe
182: Keller Lake

Hockinson

106: Liam McKee
132: Jacob McKee (2023 Regional Champion)

Hudson’s Bay

182: Joey Cantrell
195: Talan Guerrero

Ridgefield

120: Lance Draper
126: Mason Townsend
195: Cota Stover (2023 Regional Champion)

Washougal 

113: Brody Davis
126: Royce Jones
132: Grady Liezert
145: Ben Johanson
160: Ryan Langston (3) (2023 Regional Champion); Garrett Lees
170: Isaac Gil
285: Jose Alvarez-Cruze

Woodland

138: Mason Rickard
220: Logan Busig

Class 1A

King’s Way Christian

138: Ashton Baker (2023 Regional Champion)
182: Jasper Armstrong

La Center

120: Malachi Wallway (2) (2023 Regional Champion)
126: Aidan Watson (2023 Regional Champion)
152: Isaac Chromey (2023 Regional Champion
220: Lane Roberts (2023 Regional Champion)

Seton Catholic

120: Joshua Kutch

Girls

Class 4A/3A Girls

Battle Ground

100: Isabel Brown

Camas

125: Reagan Fallon-Small (4)
140: Addie Wunderli
190: Avery Vega Padilla

Mountain View

100: Esther Hernandez Perez
120: Kamaile Taisacan

Prairie

170: Aaliyah Young (3)
235: Faith Tarrant (1) (2023 Regional Champion) (Ddefending State Champion)

Skyview

190: Madysin Cardens
235: Symaran Sivaivai

Union

125: Niah Cassidy (2) (2023 Regional Champion)
130: Janessa O’Connell (3)
190: Virginia Thomason (2023 Regional Champion); Ahmiya Brox

Class 2A/1A Girls

Hockinson

125: Teagan Trenda (2023 Regional Champion)

Hudson’s Bay

105: Maritza Sanchez (2023 Regional Champion)

La Center

100: Leah Wallway

Washougal

130: Kiersten Lees (2023 Regional Champion)
140: Adrienne Locke
145: Aliyha Vargas

Woodland

110: Jersey O’Neill;
Couly McReynolds