Whitehorse, Monument Valley teams battle at 1A State Tourney

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
Two wrestlers represented the Whitehorse Raiders at the 1A Utah State Tournament in Richfield February 9-10. The team scored four points to finish 11th in the state.
At 285 pounds Lucas Collins went 1-2 on the weekend. His win came in the first round of the consolation bracket by second-period fall over Payton Stewart of Panguitch.
Lance Tsinigine also earned a win in the consolation first round at 138 pounds. He defeated Easton Theener of Altamont by 9-6 decision.
The Whitehorse girls were represented very strongly at the state tournament by one wrestler. Rayauna Lee scored nine points at 105 pounds to earn a fourth-place medal and singlehandedly place the Lady Raiders 13th in the state.
Lee beat Duchesne’s Aspen Huntington by 6-0 decision in the quarterfinals then suffered a loss by fall to Alexa Marshall of Panguitch in the semifinals.
She rallied to defeat Monument Valley’s Davida Benally by fall in the consolation semifinals before succumbing to Diana Montanez of Enterprise in the third-place match by fall.
Though the Monument Valley boys did not qualify any wrestlers for the state tourney, the girls team got strong performances from the four athletes who competed.
Yanabah Smith led the way with a third-place finish at 190 pounds, scoring all ten of the Lady Cougars’ points to place her team 12th in the state.
Smith suffered a loss by fall in the semifinal round but battled back to beat Judyann Carballo of Parowan by fall in the second period of the third-place match.
Davida Benally, Hailey Parrish, and Aiyana Parker all wrestled hard for Monument Valley in the tournament.