Battle for Honor meet: Miyamura girls take second

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

GALLUP

Defending three-time state girls state wrestling champ Miyamura finished second during its Battle for Honor wrestling tournament held Friday at Miyamura High School.

The Lady Patriots finished second with 145 points behind tournament champion Casteel, Ariz. with 165 points. Miyamura finished with three tournament champions. Casteel grabbed five firsts to garner top team honors. Belen finished third with 60 points with Santa Fe Capital fourth with 6 points. A total of 16 teams competed.

In the duals, the Miyamura boys topped Piedra Vista 42 to 25.

Miyamura head coach Nate Sellers said he was happy with his team.

“I’m pleased with the kids’ performance,” Sellers said. “It’s early in the season and they are on track to do great things. We will go back to the lab and process the good and bad and make the adjustments to improve.”

Miyamura will be competing at the 8th Annual Veterans Memorial Invitational Friday and Saturday, which is hosted by Window Rock High.

Miyamura junior Lorianna Piestewa, the two-time defending state champ, claimed the title at 107, senior Taniel Espinosa won at 120 and senior Hannah Mariano won at 235.

Having cleared from her broken foot injury during the cross country season, Piestewa showed her winning state form as she pinned Angel Griego of Casteel in 45 seconds of the opening period. In her first competition of the season after being out for a month, Piestewa pinned her other four opponents during the day-long competition.

“I’ve been out for a month because of a broken foot but today was my first tournament back from it,” Piestewa said. “I’m really happy with my results because I thought being out for so long could put me out like way behind. But luckily I’ve been working really hard this week. I’ve been working on my mental strength and it really got me back to where either as good or a little better than last year. I just got cleared on Monday to start practicing. But I’ve been wrestling a lot longer than most of the people here. Really it’s a tough mental toughness game so I was really working on that with my broken foot.”

Piestewa said she suffered a stress fracture in her foot competing in cross country.

Espinosa, who was the state runner-up at 120, also pinned Stormie Sanchez of Piedra Vista in 1:00 of the opening period. Like Piestewa, Espinosa (8-0) pinned her other four opponents under 30 seconds earlier in the competition.

With last year’s state champion graduating, Espinosa feels that her chances of claiming the 120-pound state title is good.

“I think my chances are pretty high,” Espinosa said. “I don’t mean to be cocky but I think I’m going to win the state title. My experience has really helped. This year I’m going to go for the fastest pin.”

Lady Patriot Mariano, the state runner-up last year at 185, pinned teammate Savannah Enote in 1:35 of the opening period during the 235-pound finals.

In the girls finals, Casteel won at 100 (Mia Espalin), 126 (Anneliese Kisting), 138 (MacKenzie Matturo, 145 (Isabelle Munoz), and Olivia Brokaw (185).

Piedra Vista claimed two tourney champs with sophomore Svea Robinson at 152 and sophomore Eliana Benavidez at 165.

Belen’s Andie Saiz won at 114 and Valencia’s Katie Booth won at 132.

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