Knights control the mat against Connell and Chiawana

ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights earned strong team victories over Connell 54-18 and Chiawana 52-30 Wednesday evening. These matches helped prepare the Knights for the tough road ahead as they prepare for the postseason. 

“We wrestled good teams tonight, and they both got some (great wrestlers) on their team that you have to wrestle tough,” said Knights Head Coach Seth Weeks. “But I felt like the girls wrestled good, it was a lot of fun.” 

The first matchups began at 6 p.m. with Royal’s wrestlers taking on Connell. The Knights dominated against the opposition as the team won eight of their 11 matches in this matchup to gain a team victory. 

The next battles of the evening between the Knights and Chiawana had a bit of back and forth in the upper weight classes. Chiawana claimed a few victories throughout, but Royal kept ahead of the competition every step of the way. 

One of the closest matchups of the night was between Heaven Parker from Royal Mireya Serna from Chiawana. The two battled, with each getting an upper hand at one point, but Parker ended up pulling out ahead to win in a match decision 13-4. 

“I felt like I did pretty good. It was definitely a little bit of a harder match since I wrestled a weight class up,” said Parker. “She felt pretty heavy, but I was on top (of her) most of the time and that gave me a little bit of faith to keep going.” 

She said this wasn’t her first time competing against a higher weight class which gave her experience going into the match and because it was her only match of the night, she had the opportunity to put all her energy into winning. Though it was exhausting, she felt it was good preparation for the competition that’ll come her way down the stretch. 

This match was also a good reminder for Parker about the importance of being quick to getting in the right position. She said as the season progresses, her goal is to improve her technique to be always prepared to face tough opponents such as this. 

Weeks said another few highlights from the matches against Chiawana was in the match between Royal’s Sophia Villafana and Chiawana’s Rachel Acosta where the two girls battled it out in a knockdown, drag out match where Villafana stayed tough to earn the victory. The other was with Lizzie Jenks, who once again proved her strength on the mat to earn victories over Connell and Chiawana. 

Coming out of the dual meet, the coach said a good lesson for the team was that they need to be prepared for both their individual matches in their meets, but also for the upcoming matches in the postseason. The coming weeks will be important in getting players healthy and making sure everybody is peaking at the right time.  

“We have the league South Central Athletic Conference Championships coming up next week and that’ll be a fun day,” said Weeks. “We’ll go out and look to dominate the league and then carry that right into postseason.” 

Parker said she is feeling confident in both her individual abilities and that of her teammates as the Knights head into the final few weeks of the regular season. 

“I think we have a pretty decent team. We have a lot of girls and I’m really proud of all of us,” she said. “I do think we can push a little bit harder now that we’re going into post season, but overall, we’re pretty good.” 

The Knights are traveling to Othello this weekend to compete in the Lady Huskie Invitational. Matches begin Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. 

RESULTS:  

ROYL: 54
CONL: 18 

140: Hali Christensen (ROYL) over Joanna Magana (CONL) fall 2:59, 6-0 145: Damaris Zurita (CONL) over Emily Sanchez (ROYL) fall 2:59, 0-6
155: Emilie Lira (ROYL) win by forfeit, 6-0
170: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jenks (ROYL) over Leah Steele (CONL) fall 2:00, 6-0
100: Sophia Villafana (ROYL) over Miranda Chavez (CONL) fall 3:25, 6-0 105: Madison Magana (CONL) over Sharon Arroyo (ROYL) fall 2:50, 0-6 110: Dana Yorgesen (ROYL) over Angelyque Meza (CONL) fall 3:18, 6-0 115: Alina Valentin (ROYL) over Stephanie Comez Arrez (CONL) fall 0:42, 6-0
120: Isabelle Barajas (ROYL) win by forfeit, 6-0
125: Belinda Castillo (CONL) over Briannah Quintero (ROYL)) fall 0:55, 0-6 135: Evelyn Acencio (ROYL) over Yareli Martinez (CONL) fall 3:43, 6-0 

ROYL: 52
CHIA: 30 

145: Hali Christensen (ROYL) over Tomeka Anderson (CHIA) fall 1:21, 6-0 155: Leonela Guzman (CHIA) over Emily Sanchez (ROYL) fall 3:00, 0-6 170: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jenks (ROYL) over Addison Miller (CHIA) fall 1:23, 6-0
190: Leah Christensen (ROYL) over Gisel Pelegrin (CHIA) fall 0:00, 6-0 235: Fernanda Valladares (CHIA) win by forfeit, 0-6
100: Sophia Villafana (ROYL) over Rachel Acosta (CHIA) fall 5:28, 6-0
105: Sharon Arroyo (ROYL) win by forfeit, 6-0
110: Matty Figueroa (CHIA) over Sophia Garza (ROYL) fall 0:25, 0-6
115: Reese Prescott (ROYL) over Eliza Reid (CHIA) fall 0:26, 6-0
120: Chloe Reid (CHIA) over Isabelle Barajas (ROYL) fall 1:17, 0-6
125: Heaven Parker (ROYL) over Mireya Serna (CHIA) MD 13-4, 4-0
130: Briannah Quintero (ROYL) win by forfeit, 6-0
135: Morgan Dewey (CHIA) over Evelyn Acencio (ROYL) fall 0:30, 0-6
140: Emilie Lira (ROYL) over Gaby Grimaldi (CHIA) fall 1:36, 6-0 

    Royal’s Sophia Villafana gets up after pinning her opponent Rachel Acosta from Chiawana during Wednesday’s dual meet.
  

    Lizzie Jenks from Royal pushes Chiawana’s Addison Miller into the mat during their matchup Wednesday evening.
  

    Knights wrestler Isabelle Barajas positions herself to find an opening against Chloe Reid from Chiawana.
  

    Emily Sanchez, right, from Royal and Leonela Guzman, left, from Chiawana work to bring the other down during Wednesday’s dual meet.
  

    Sophia Garza, right, from the Knights locks arms with Matty Figueroa, left, from Chiawana as the two face off at Wednesday’s meet.