EUGENE – The Thurston girls have set themselves up, and now have a chance to win their sixth state wrestling championship this weekend at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Four Colts – senior Eily Asher (100 pounds), sophomore Teagan Merritt (115), senior Kristal Zamora (140), and junior Izabella Castleberry (190) – won titles Saturday at the OSAA 6A/5A Special District 4 meet at North Eugene High School. Eight of their teammates also qualified for state.
“We’re the defending state champs, but the Dallas girls are the favorites this year,” Thurston coach Mike Simons said. “We beat them twice, then they beat us the last time we faced them. We each qualified 12 girls. We’ll see who shows up this weekend. Hopefully the point totals add up in our favor at the end.”
Simons is hoping for a couple of individual state titles.
Castleberry, the defending state champion at 190, is the No. 1 seed and is 39-1, her only setback coming to a girl from Washington.
CRAIG STROBECK / CHRONICLE PHOTO
Zamora (34-2) is seeded 2nd, but she’s hungry for a title, having placed at state three times.
“I think she has a really good shot of upsetting the No. 1 seed,” Simons said. “She was leading her last time and got pinned.”
Regardless of what transpires in Portland, it’s been another magical year on the mat for the Thurston girls.
“In these last 8-9 years, we’ve won five state titles and had a couple of runner-up finishes,” Simons said. “We’ve been pretty lucky to have good athletes and good coaches to work with.
CRAIG STROBECK / CHRONICLE PHOTO
“Just to bring home a trophy from the state championships means so much to our girls and everyone involved in our program.”
Simons said the Colts had to battle through several illnesses and injuries to get through this season, including the loss of defending district champ Cassidy Hadden, who’s out for the year with a knee injury.
“She’s a junior so we’ll get her back next year,” he said. “She was third in the state as a freshman and fifth as a sophomore.”
At the Special District 2 meet at Cottage Grove, Creswell senior 145-pounder Chantell Noffsinger captured the district title.
