Window Rock wrestling team qualifies four girls to state
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Window Rock’s Chaniqua Begay (right) gets set to battle Snowflake’s Madi De La Cruz in the third-place match of 126-pound weight class at the AIA Division II, Section III girls wrestling tournament on Saturday. Begay lost her match by a fall.
By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times
WINSLOW, Ariz. – One year ago, the Window Rock wrestling team sent Lucaira Begay to the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division II girls state wrestling tournament.
As a freshman, Begay placed sixth at state.
On Saturday, she earned her second state qualification after placing third at 165 pounds at the AIA Division II, Section III meet. The Window Rock sophomore will have some company this year as the Scouts also qualified senior Chaniqua Begay (126), junior Hope Peshlakai (138) and sophomore Gracey Brave-Rock Morris to state.
“Compared to years before, this is really good,” Window Rock coach Marc Hillis said of the number of state qualifiers.
The longtime Window Rock coach says Begay and Brave-Rock Morris have been placing at most of their tournaments. He was also pleased with the progress of Peshlakai, who was injured at the start of the season.
“She’s doing pretty good, medaling in a couple of tournaments as well.” Hillis said.
In addition to the four qualifiers, the Scouts brought three other girls to the sectional meet. Those numbers, Hillis said, bodes well for the program.
“We have a much fuller team this year,” he said. “We had some wrestlers that left the program for whatever reason, but we still had some good numbers at the end of the season.”
Of the four qualifiers, Brave-Rock Morris made the sectional finals at 185 pounds. The sophomore dropped her overall record to 9-9 overall after losing the title to Blue Ridge senior Eliyah Pete (30-5) by a fall.
Peshlakai (19-13) took third, winning her last match over Page senior Heidi Haskie (16-16) in a 2-1 decision. Begay, meanwhile, placed third when Page junior Logan Rivers (25-8) had to medically forfeit their match.
At 126, Begay (26-14) lost the third-place match to Snowflake’s Madi De La Cruz (26-14) by a fall.
On Saturday, Hillis is bringing a dozen boys wrestlers to the Division IV, Section II meet at Winslow High School. The Window Rock coach says freshman Jordan Tsosie at 106, sophomore Jarom Owens (120) and junior Deion Jones (126) have a strong chance of qualifying for state.
“They’ve all medaled at various tournaments,” Hillis said. “They’re leading the way for our team. I think Mr. Owens took first at Pat Kennedy and Jordan came in second at Pat Kennedy and fourth at Ironwood.
“He just missed the blood round at Mile High,” he added.
Hillis says middleweight Bearren Kee is showing some promise. The senior wrestler competes at 150 pounds.
“His older brother, Ryan Kee, was a state medalist,” Hillis said. “You know, Bearren stayed out of wrestling for a long time. He hadn’t wrestled since eighth grade, so he’s picking it back up.
“He’s doing alright, but you could tell his other years are missed,” he added.
Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow