Royal girls take third at Mat Classic

TACOMA – Just like last year, Royal senior Alondra Morales returned to Royal City with a state championship after defeating Toppenish freshman Islah Alcala in the 145-pound finals of the girls 2A/1A/2B/1B Mat Classic.

As a team, the Royal Knights took home third place and had two wrestlers place along with Morales, freshman Sharon Arroyo and junior Emma Villa.

“I was able to come out on top with some of my teammates,” Morales said. “It feels great.”

Knowing that Toppenish and White River – who finished first and second respectively as a team at the Mat Classic – had larger numbers than them, the Knights had a goal of finishing inside the top three at this year’s state tournament according to Head Coach Jesus Carlos Villa.

“It just goes to show that the girls are willing and all in,” Villa said. “They believe and they want to be good.”

Morales, who won her second-consecutive state title, pinned her opponent in the second round of the 145-pound finals. At the 2022 Mat Classic, she won the girls 140-pound title by an 8-7 decision over Delaney Graves of Chief Sealth.

“It’s not something that I expected to get – freshman year when I came in, I just wanted to have fun,” Morales said. “Coming out and being able to get it two times, it just shows I have endless support from my people. We’re not a big team, but we’ve got a lot of love here. I do it for my team, I do it for my family and I do it for my town.”

Like any coach, Villa had confidence in Morales being able to bring home another championship.

“I had all the confidence in the world that she was going to get the job done,” Villa said. “Her worth ethic is good, she’s well-disciplined and she knew what she wanted. She knew that she had to put in the work to achieve, and so that was fun to see it all come together.”

After falling in the opening round of the girls 2A/1A/2B/1B, Arroyo bounced back through the consolation bracket to finish fifth at state. Arroyo serves as an example to all the incoming girls wrestlers in Royal City, according to Villa.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are; if you can come in and commit to trusting the process, everyone can be competitive,” Villa said. “She’s (Arroyo) setting the bar and the standard for Royal wrestling. You come in as a freshman and work hard, you’ll be rewarded.”

Emma Villa, Jesus Carlos Villa’s daughter, fell in the quarterfinals to eventual state runner-up Jocelyn Velasco of Toppenish but rallied in the final two rounds of the consolation bracket to take third place in the 170-pound bracket.

“Even though she fell a little short of her goal, we’re still proud of her,” Jesus Carlos Villa said. “Third place is real, real respectable and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Three of the five Knight wrestlers that competed at the 2023 Mat Classic are underclassmen, and Villa said the girls know their roles to the incoming class of Royal girls wrestlers.

“They know that there’s a job, that they need to be good role models and good motivators for the incoming girls,” Villa said. “Because they want to feel the same emotions, the same euphoria that Alondra (Morales) and Emma (Villa) experienced.”

Villa said that the wrestlers had grown their love for the sport over the previous four months. From questioning their interest at the beginning of the season to seeing the “bittersweet” end at the Tacoma Dome, many of the Royal wrestlers even wanted to continue practices the next week.

“You realize that all your friends, your family, your coaches – you spent all this time together, and it’s over,” Villa said. “And they didn’t want it to be over. They’re like, ‘Man, I still want to practice on Monday.’”

This year’s Mat Classic was the first to separate the girls into two brackets, one for 2A/1A/2B/1B schools and one for 3A/4A schools.

“It feels really cool to see all these girls wrestling,” Morales said. “It’s coming up, it’s growing and it’s going to be the next big women’s sport.”