Leaving everything on the mat

3 Chinle High girls wrestlers qualify for state

WINSLOW, Ariz.

For a few agonizing seconds, Chinle freshman Nikayla Wagner wondered where her match was headed in the championship bout of the 185-pound weight class on Saturday afternoon.

Wagner’s opponent, Miah Johnson of Monument Valley, came up with some key points late in the third period and a once promising lead disappeared. Johnson came up with a takedown and a near-fall to pull within 12-10 at the Arizona Division I, Section IV all-girls wrestling meet at Winslow High School.

“I was a little worried when she was getting those points,” Wagner said. “I thought I was going to get behind.”

Needless to say, Wagner was glad she held on in what was the most exciting match on Saturday afternoon.

“She gave me a real challenge,” the Chinle grappler said of Johnson. “It was hard earning my points because she is so strong.”

Wagner was one of two wrestlers that earned sectional titles for Chinle High as sophomore Anjane Rose Chee also took gold at 145.

Both wrestlers will earn one of the top seeds at next month’s state wrestling tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 8 in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

“They left everything on the mat, like I had asked them to,” Chinle coach Nathan Wagner Sr. said of his pupils. “Like I always tell them, win or lose they have to leave everything on the mat and the outcome will sort itself out.”

In her championship bout, Chee said it took her three attempts to finally pin Monument Valley’s Rhiannon Clark.

“I almost took her down for a pin the first time but she got out of it,” Chee said. “The second time I did it again and she got out of it again. The third time she went all the way down.”

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