Winslow girls win back-to-back titles

JOSEPH CITY, Ariz. – Make it two in a row.

The Winslow girls wrestling team repeated as champion at the Joseph City Invitational on Saturday night by amassing 173 points.

Arizona Lutheran came in a distant second with 154 markers followed by Lee Williams (140), Snowflake (115) and Holbrook (98) to complete the top-5 at the 24-team invite.

The Bulldogs put nine girls wrestlers on the podium headed by the first-place finish from 132-pounder Tatum Estrada.

“We took first last year, and we took first again so this is good,” Winslow coach Kendal Ybarra said. “The girls did an awesome job. We had some injuries at the beginning of the season, and we still have them but we’re working through them.

“This was all about team effort,” he added. “They’re gaining points for each other and for the team.”
Estrada, who improved to 19-0 overall, scored a 7-1 decision over Ganado’s Lyndsay Thomas in the 132-pound championship round.

“She’s a junior and she’s making a good run,” Ybarra said. “She had an injury at the beginning of the season, and she was out for a few weeks. She came back strong and she’s doing good.”
The Bulldogs also had Emily Baca make the championship round as she finished second to Wickenburg’s Peityn Codding at 145.

Winslow received a pair of third-place finishes from Terianne Skaggs at 126 and Penelope Valenciano (152). The fourth-place finishers included Riley Alexander (107), Kendra Ybarra (120) and Arora Madore (138) while Natalia Tahy (185) and Alaya Candelaria (235) took fifth.

With roughly a month left before the state meet, Ybarra is looking to get seven or eight wrestlers qualified for state. The Winslow coach was pleased that the Arizona Interscholastic Association added another division for girls wrestling. Before this year, there was only one classification.

“That’s awesome for us because there were some that fell short last year, and a few years before that,” Ybarra said. “We have a few good wrestlers in there and we’re going to give it a run.”

Boys wrestling

The Winslow boys team scored three medals with junior Michael Romero leading the way. Romero won the 132-pound weight class. He took a 7-1 decision over Mayer wrestler Dustin Oen in the finals.

“I was looking forward to wrestling all these kids here,” Romero said. “I really wanted to wrestle Arizona Lutheran (Brenan Wesolek) but unfortunately he came up short against Mayer, so I wrestled the kid from Mayer.”

Romero improved to 36-3 overall and he’s looking to improve his second-place finish at state last season.

“Michael’s got a shot,” Ybarra said. “He’s gonna give it a run this year and we’ll see what happens.”

The Winslow boys also scored a fourth-place effort from Izaiah Romero (138) and a fifth place showing from Ethan Joe (144).

On Friday and Saturday, Winslow is hosting the Doc Wright Invitational, which is expected to draw 90 teams, 45 boys and 45 girls.

“It’s gonna be a tough tournament,” Ybarra said. “We’ll have teams from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Nevada there.”

Michael Romero said he’s looking forward to the Doc Wright Invite. His best finish at his home meet came last season when he took sixth.

“I really don’t care if I place,” the Winslow junior said. “It’s really about just wrestling. I get to see other wrestlers like Bloomfield, and I lost to their 132-pounder (Elias Johnson) three weeks ago in Window Rock.

“I’m looking to get back at him because I didn’t wrestle how I was supposed to when I wrestled him,” he added.

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