Wrestling teams take on City High

Both the girls and boys wrestling teams faced off with the Little Hawks in a cross-town rivalry dual meet on Dec. 22

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Owen Aanestad

Jannell Avila ’23 eyes her opponent at the start of the 160 pound match during a dual meet against City High on Dec. 22.

Owen Aanestad, Online Editor-In-Chief

Some of the state’s best boys and girls wrestlers faced off last night in the first-ever doubleheader cross-town rivalry dual meet against City High on Dec. 22. The girls wrestling team took down City 30-18 while the boys team fell by a team score of 33-44.

As the Little Hawks embark on their first year as a program and the Trojans roll into year three the girls dual did not disappoint to start off the back-to-back dual meets.

Senior Ava Davis got things started for the Trojans in her first match at 120 pounds when she pinned City High’s Sydney Wilkes ’23 in 1:35 to put West on the board. Sokona Keita ’24 followed with a last-second takedown to secure the 6-4 decision win at 195 pounds.

Helen Orszula ’24 and Harper Chase ’25 dropped back-to-back matches for the Trojans at 120 and 126 pounds. Davis came back for her second match of the night in a high-scoring affair and defeated City High’s Claire Brown ’23 by decision 16-13. Junior Lexi Nash pinned her opponent in 57 seconds to help lead the Trojans to their second dual win of the season.

In hopes of winning their third straight dual against City, the boys wrestling team got out to a rough start after dropping the first four matches of the dual. Senior Grant O’Dell put the Trojans on the board with a 7-5 decision win over City High’s Ryan Ott ’22 at 145 pounds. Three-time state champion Robert Avila ’22 followed with the fastest fall of the night when he pinned City High’s Kale Clark ’22 in 24 seconds to put a dent in the Little Hawks lead. The Trojans went on to win the next three matches two by fall and one by forfeit to put them up 27-20 with five weights remaining. West picked up only one of those five matches when Braden Doyle ’24 won by forfeit at 113 pounds. The Trojans dropped their first conference dual meet of the year by a team score of 33-44.