In the first year of the Arkansas girls wrestling state tournament, Little Rock Fair made some memories during its only shot at the event.
The Lady War Eagles had three wrestlers win individual state championships Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. Journey Land, Crystal Allen and Victoria Harris-Dove all took home hardware.
Land pinned Little Rock Central's Kyndall Bankston in 5:18 in the 165-pound championship match.
In the 185-pound match, Allen pinned Searcy's Harley Seymore in 3:20.
Harris-Dove won by pinfall in 3:06 over Sylvan Hills' Ivana Elliott in the 235-pound match.
Fair and Little Rock McClellan will close at the end of the 2019-20 school year, with its students going to attend the new Little Rock Southwest High School this fall along with 300 students from Little Rock Hall.
Little Rock Fair boys coach and assistant girls coach O'Dell Lee, a former two-time state championship wrestler at Bryant, wanted his team to relax as it entered the first girls state tournament.
"I told our girls to have fun," Lee said. "I told them I know it's going to be tough. You're going to have work, work, work. But you have to have fun to do it."
Lee started Little Rock Fair's wrestling program in 2018-19, then the girls program began this season after the Arkansas Activities Association sanctioned the sport in June.
Lady War Eagles Coach Micah Qualls-Lee, Lee's wife, was proud of what her team accomplished.
"We were the only team with three state champions," she said.
Qualls-Lee said Fair's girls wrestled against boys last year, so this season they were prepared to compete against other girls.
"Our girls were ready," Qualls-Lee said. "They said, 'Girls are easy compared to the boys.' I could not be more thrilled about the girls getting their recognition."
Both Lee and Qualls-Lee said they don't know whether they will coach the wrestling programs at Southwest, but they hope they'll get the opportunity to lead the Gryphons in 2020-21.
"I'm hoping that with the success that I've had, hopefully they'll recognize it," Lee said. "We've taken these girls when they've had nothing."
Healthy result
Mountain Home battled illnesses leading up to Thursday's girls wrestling state tournament, but the Lady Bombers left the Jack Stephens Center with a second-place team finish after accumulating 125 points. Searcy won the tournament with 198 points.
The Lady Bombers placed two wrestlers in state championship matches. Trinity Willette lost in the 140-pound championship match to Van Buren's Addison Loney, and Victoria Bevel fell in the 150-pound match to Searcy's Trinity Danberry.
"I think we had a good day," Mountain Home Coach Travis Alexander said. "Some of our girls have been sick. Every girl on our team scored points in order to get that trophy, so that was important."
Other Mountain Home wrestlers who placed included Amelia Frounfelter, who won the 185-pound third-place match Cayden Jones (235), who was fourth; and Jasmin Flores (100) and Laurel Chafin (132), who each had fifth-place finishes.
Beebe adds champ
Beebe staked claim to the state's first female state champion in wrestling in 2015 when Destiny Nunez won the 106-pound boys title.
Five years later, in the state's first girls wrestling state tournament, junior Suravieve Robertson joined Nunez as female champions on the mat.
Robertson pinned Fayetteville sophomore April Stanley in 2:53 in the 132-pound state title match.
Robertson was one of five No. 1 seeds to win their championship matches Thursday. Along with Robertson, top seeds Violet Summers of Van Buren, Maty Lincoln of Searcy, Casey Kanaday of Little Rock Central and Victoria Harris-Dove of Little Rock Fair also won state titles.
Switching over
Berryville senior Daniella Villegas wrestled with the boys in last year's state tournament, placing sixth in the 126-pound weight class.
On Thursday, Villegas competed in the girls' 124-pound class and finished fourth. Villegas lost to Springdale junior Emily Monk after being pinned in 5:04.
Villegas was the only girl in last year's boys state tournament to place in Thursday's first girls state tournament.
Honors doled out
Three wrestlers were honored by the Arkansas Activities Association.
Maty Lincoln of Searcy was named the top wrestler in the 100-116 weight category. Beebe's Suravieve Robertson earned the award in the 124-140 pound category, while Searcy's Trinity Danberry took the 150-235 pound award.
Searcy Coach Jerry Evans was named the coach of the year.
Sports on 02/21/2020