East's Gracin Goff, Central's Meadow King reach girls wrestling finals
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Feb. 24—CASPER — Cheyenne East junior Gracin Goff grew up spending her winters on the basketball court.
She wanted a new challenge — and to "see how tough" she was — and opted to be part of the Wyoming High School Activities Association's inaugural girls wrestling season.
Goff was plenty tough Thursday, going 2-0 with a pair of first-period pins to advance to the 190-pound championship. The finals are slated to start at 7 tonight at the Wyoming Center in Casper.
"I've been working a lot over the past couple weeks to solidify my moves, know what I needed to do and feel my body position better," Goff said. "I had her stacked with double wrists and felt her start to slide out. We've been working on that in practice, so I was able to slide back into position and get the pin."
Goff pinned Glenrock's Danika Harris in 1 minute during the semifinals. She had a first-round bye, and opened the tournament by pinning Thunder Basin's Melanie Esterda in the quarterfinals in 1:21.
"She wrestled tough, smart and pretty aggressive," East coach Thad Trujillo said. "She's been working and sticking around after practice and doing a lot of extra stuff. She asks a lot of questions because she's very motivated to be as good as she can.
"She's improved as much or more than anyone else in the room."
Goff won't be the only Cheyenne girl in tonight's finals.
Cheyenne Central junior Meadow King entered the tournament as the No. 1-ranked 145-pounder in the latest WyoWrestling.com poll. She looked deserving of her spot in the poll by scoring a pair of first-period pins Thursday.
King opened the tournament by pinning Mountain View's Ashlee Tims in 1:50. She reached the final by pinning Kemmerer's Kaylie Julander in 1:45 during the semifinals.
The Julander bout was a rematch of the Ron Thon Memorial finals, which King also won. That victory gave her an idea of what Julander was going to do Thursday.
"I knew if I was super aggressive right off the bat, I could win that match pretty fast," King said. "I spent a little time feeling her out and seeing what she was going to give me. I went for a couple shots I haven't done in a long time, which is something coach (Kyle Brightman) always tells me not to do.
"When I went for the ankle pick, she defended it just like I wanted her to. I got a body lock and inside trip, and it hit just right. That felt so good because I've been working on that move for about two years."
King will face Star Valley's Cara Andrews in the final. Andrews pinned Burns-Pine Bluffs' Rihana Tillman in the semifinals in 4 minutes, 32 seconds.
King had never seen Andrews or Tillman wrestle before Thursday. She was able to watch Andrews a couple times on the opening day.
"I just have to be aggressive and take what's mine," King said.
East sits sixth in the team race with 61 points. The Thunderbirds also had seniors Emmaray VanDell (120) and Elizabeth Grube (135) advance to the semis. VanDell was pinned by Thunder Basin's Aspen Henry in 1:14. Grube fell behind Lovell's Danika Crumrine midway through the second period and lost 9-2.
Central is 10th in the team standings. In addition to King, the Lady Indians also have Ellyse Rimmasch (100) and Kaiana Garlough (115) alive today. Sophomore Abby Vroman (110) won her first bout before falling in the quarters. She had to injury default the remainder of the tournament after suffering a knee injury early in the first period of her bout with Campbell County's Ellie Bouzis.
GIRLS WRESTLING
WYOMING STATE TOURNAMENT
at Wyoming Center — Casper
Team Scores
1. Star Valley 131; 2. Pinedale 113; 3. Kelly Walsh 82; 4. Sheridan 80; 5. Thunder Basin 64; 6. Cheyenne East 61; 7t. Kemmerer; Wind River; Worland 56; 10. Cheyenne Central 53.5; 11. Glenrock 49; 12. Evanston 45; 13. Natrona County 43.5; 14t. Powell; Shoshoni 39; 16. Lovell 37; 17. Rock Springs 35; 18. Buffalo 34; 19t. Rawlins; Wright 33; 21t. Campbell County; Green River 30; 23t. Lyman; Wheatland 29; 25. Moorcroft 27; 26. Laramie 26.5; 27. Big Piney 25; 28. Lingle-Fort Laramie/Southeast 24; 29t. Cody; Newcastle-Upton; Thermopolis 22; 32. Burns-Pine Bluffs 18; 33. Lander 17; 34t. Hanna-Elk Mountain; Hulett; Cheyenne South 15; 37. Mountain View 14; 38. Lusk 13; 39. Rocky Mountain 12; 40t. Dubois; Riverton 10; 42. Sundance 2; 43t. Cokeville; Douglas; Greybull-Riverside; Jackson; Saratoga; Tongue River; Torrington; Wyoming Indian 0.
Burns-Pine Bluffs results
100 pounds: Stoneking 0-2; 145: Tillman 2-1; 155: Jackson 2-2.
Cheyenne Central results
100 pounds: Rimmasch 1-1; 105: Bates 1-2; 110: Vroman 1-2; 115: Garlough 3-1; 120: Kant 0-2; 140: Murray 1-2; 145: King 3-0.
Cheyenne East results
120 pounds: VanDell 2-1; 130: Lyon 0-2; 135: Grube 2-1; 145: K. Ronnau 3-1; 190: Goff 2-0.
Cheyenne South results
100 pounds: Warner 1-2; 125: Soden 0-2; 135: Schwatken 2-2; 155: Hockenberger 0-2.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.
