CONQUERING SHEROES: Thurston’s girls wrestling pin down 2nd straight state title

PORTLAND – On Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, the Thurston girls wrestling team cheered, wept and celebrated on the mat as they held up their second Oregon state-shaped blue trophy after claiming another 6A/5A girls team title in two years.

“Our girls, they wanted to defend their title, and they did,” head coach Mike Simons said. “They wanted to compete and did just that.”

It was just two weeks ago when Simons shared that although his girls team were eager to defend, he was worried about their condition more than the boys team.

“They are a little beat up right now,” Simons said at that time. “So they’re gonna have to scrap pretty hard and try to get healed up by next weekend.”

They had battled through several illnesses and injuries to get through this season. Most notably, the biggest loss was defending district champ Cassidy Hadden, who’s out for the year with a knee injury. There were also several graduated losses.

And despite having no state champions this year, the Colts still managed to rack up a total of 124 total points overall. Redmond claimed second with 114 points, Dallas third (113), and Forest Grove fourth (95). 

Thurston witnessed two girls this year in the championship rounds: senior Kristal Zamora (140) and junior Izabella Castleberry (190). Both ended their season with second-place finishes.

Zamora earned her second runner-up title at 41-3 to close out her senior season. She was the underdog coming into Portland as the second seed and lost to No.1 Kennedy Blanton of Forest Grove in the championship round.

Castleberry, the 155-pound state champion last year, traveled to Portland as the No. 1 seed at 39-1. Castleberry’s dreams of a second title were quickly distinguished in the championship round, though, when she was put in a head throw by David Douglas’ second seed McKenzie Mills, who ended the match in only 43 seconds.

Out of the 12 state qualifiers, five Colts made the podium. There were three others along with Zamora and Castleberry: Eily Asher (100) in third, Teagan Merritt (115) in fourth and Katiry Day (235) in third place. 

Despite the lack of individual crowns, Simons attributed the real achievement to the journey along the way and the passion a second title creates for both teams. For him, a second team title is a spark that can ignite the Colts to greater achievements down the line, 

“Our kids are already fired up for next year,” he said “Now they’re thinking, ‘What can we do better next year to get more kids on the podium?’ And defend our girls state championship for a third year? They’re already fired up to get in the room on Monday and try to get better for next year.”