Rainier High School senior wrestler Annabelle Whiteman only needed 44 total seconds on the mat to secure her first-ever first-place medal in wrestling and her first trip to the Tacoma Dome.
Whiteman was one of eight Mountaineers to punch their ticket to the Mat Classic during the District 4 1B/2B/1A tournament at Montesano High School Saturday, Feb. 15. She only wrestled two matches as she received byes through the first two rounds; she knocked off Napavine’s Princess Parcia via fall in the 140-pound semifinals in 21 seconds before defeating Fort Vancouver’s Dana Bautista by fall in the finals in 23 seconds.
“As soon as the whistle blows, I know what my first move is. I’ve been drilling it for the past two weeks,” Whiteman, who surprised even herself when the whistle blew during the final match, said. “The whistle blows and I do my thing. It’s kind of just muscle memory.”
Whiteman will join Lauryn Lapine, 105; Dakota Gardner, 110; Layla Hill, 125; Keira Anderson, 170; Chloe Willis, 190; Ryleigh Cruse, 235; and Faithe Jarvis, 235; at Mat Classic XXXVI.
Anderson also clinched a district title for Rainier, defeating Montesano’s Lexi Cisneros and Tenino’s Ellie Chance in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, before outlasting Napavine’s Makaylynn Arias by fall in the finals.
Willis and Cruse were the runners-up in their respective brackets, while Jarvis earned fourth, Lapine took home sixth, and both Hill and Gardner won seventh.
As a team, Rainier finished third out of 26 schools with 187 points, only trailing host Montesano’s 252.5 points and Forks’ 213 points.
“It was fantastic to watch them really perfect those moves that they’ve worked on all season to get them here,” Rainier coach Kelli Garner said. “I’m very proud of each and every one of them.”
Garner said Whiteman has not only taken her skills as a wrestler to the next level, but her mentality has advanced in her fourth and final year, as well.
“I think she really started to realize last year that she had way more potential, so her focus this year has been amazing. She’s a multi-sport athlete, but I think this was the first time she actually is identifying as a wrestler,” Garner said. “She was locked in.”
Anderson has also revved up her skills and her confidence heading into her third trip to the Mat Classic. She placed sixth in last year’s event, but she has her eyes set on becoming the first Rainier female wrestler to ever finish in the top three. No Mountaineer girl has ever won a state championship.
“I think I’m really close. I think I’ve definitely improved a lot over the season and fine tuning what I already knew,” Anderson, who boasts 34 wins and just one loss this season, said. “I’m pretty confident in myself that I can achieve that goal.”
Six of the eight Rainier state qualifiers have never taken a trip to the Tacoma Dome, and seven have not wrestled at state as Cruse was an alternate last year. Rainier coach Chris Holterman said the wrestlers have set goals of not just qualifying for state and experiencing the bright lights but to earn medals.
“Our goal is always to place at state. We joke that anybody can go to the concert, but we want to be up on stage,” he said.
Tenino took fourth in the tournament with 175 points, led by district champion Ynavi Rodriguez in the 190-pound bracket. After receiving a first-round bye and winning by forfeit in the quarterfinals, she knocked off Naselle’s Pania Baines in the semifinals and made quick work of Rainier’s Willis in the clinching match. All eight Beavers who competed in Montesano will head to the Mat Classic, but Nataliah Chacon, who took second at 125, lost by injury default after suffering a knee injury in the title match.
Napavine, which finished eighth, sent five wrestlers to the district tournament and will send all five to the state tournament, including Arias, who earned a pair of wins before falling short to eventual champion Anderson in the title match.
At the 2B level, five Winlock Cardinals will make the trip to the Mat Classic, and Toledo’s Isabella Garza, 155, was the runner-up at districts and will be the lone Riverhawk headed to Tacoma. Mossyrock’s Bailey Gross, 120, and Coco Baldwin, 130, placed at Montesano and clinched state bids.
Rochester’s Kenna Pratt, 125, was the lone Warrior at districts, and she will be an alternate at the Mat Classic in the 1A classification. Pe Ell’s Madison Person, 140, and Peyton Pilz, 190, will be the two area 1B wrestlers headed to state.
Mat Classic XXXVI begins for 1B, 2B and 1A schools at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21 and continues Saturday, Feb. 22 starting at 9 a.m. Championship finals will start Saturday at 5 p.m.
