Competing in the largest allgirls wrestling tournament to be held in Virginia, Rockbridge County High School senior Mia Marando and freshman Tasha Shorter both placed fifth in their weight classes. Tthe Orange County Girls Open on Saturday at Orange County High School featured female wrestlers from Virginia and outside of the state competing.
Marando wrestled at 145-pounds, going 5-1. In the fifth-place bout, she pinned Radford’s Jackson Barnett in 1:48 to improve to 11-1 this season.
Competing at 152, Shorter went 4-2. She pinned Amherst County’s Abigail Eggleston in 2:47 in the fifth-place bout to improve to 7-4 this season.
With just two wrestlers, the Wildcats placed 21st of 58 teams, scoring 36 points. Dinwiddie won the tournament with 110.5 points, Mountain View (110) placed second, and Westfield (86) finished third. Rounding out the top five were Oakton (82.5) and Orange County (74).
In what is a growing sport, there are more than 80 different high schools in Virginia with female wrestlers.
RC’s boys’wrestlers competed in duals last Wednesday at William Monroe and on Saturday at Strasburg, but results were not provided.
Marando and Shorter will continue to train for the girls’ zone qualifier on Saturday, Feb. 1, at Rocktown High School in Harrisonburg, where they will aim to qualify for the Virginia High School League Girls State Open Wrestling Championships Feb. 26-27 in Glen Allen.
Today, Wednesday, the Wildcats will play host to Valley District rivals for their final home competition of the season, starting at 6 p.m. Before the meet, the Wildcats will honor their nine seniors.
