WINSLOW - Wrestling brackets are not created equal.

Some have one or two competitors with a resume and tournament directors can seed the bracket pretty easily.

Then there are the stacked weight classes like 107 pounds for the girls tournament at the Doc Wright tournament.

Six of the competitors were state placers last year. By the time quarterfinals came around, medal winners were everywhere.

With that said, Show Low’s Ruthie Wilhelm and Emmy Lopez of Miyamura, N.M., made it to the finals.

Wilhelm won it with a pin at the 3 minute mark. When it comes to finding a  spot in the seeding meeting state champion on the resume goes pretty far, pretty much serves as a trump card to everything else.

“I knew there were a lot of good wrestlers,” she said. “It doesn’t bother me. I like being challenged.”

Other champions were Rebekah Ponce (100), Brisa Gonzalez (114), Hannah Naccarati-Cholo (126), Rebekah Hodges (132), Eastmark’s Brylee Colwell (138), Boulder Creek’s Emma Corley (145), Poston Butte’s Rianna Tate (152), Sandra Day O’Connor’s Isra Faja (165), Morenci’s Cynthia Martinez (185) and Coconino’s Sydney Valentino (235).

Campo Verde won the 30-team event with 150 points, while Red Mountain (142), Boulder Creek (122), Snowflake (104), Sandra Day O’Connor (103) rounded out the top five.

The Coach D Intensity Award, named after and given out by Mesa boys wrestling coach David DiDomenico, was awarded to Colwell.

The Outstanding Wrestler awards went to Wilhelm and Naccarati-Cholo.

Wilhelm comes from a family of wrestlers. Olders ones, younger ones. All compete in the sport, they have medals and championship brackets, giving her a bit of an edge against anyone she lines up against.

“I’ve been around the sport for a long time, and I always wrestled with my brothers," said Wilhelm, who improved to 22-1 on the season. “When I step on the mat, I know she’s probably not going to be better than my brothers.”

She had a little bit of setback when an injury kept her off the mat for a bit.

Then when she came back she didn’t have her usual precision and gas tank. Wilhelm was pinned in the finals of the Mile Hile Challenge in January. It hurt at the time, but it will likely help her in the long run.

“It showed me I had work to do,” she said. “I felt like I have to do more now. I can’t let up.”

Basha’s Naccarati-Cholo knows a little something about finding the sport because of a sibling, only she gravitated to the sport “by default.”

“My little brother got into it, and he needed a partner, so I guess I started out by default,” she said with a laugh. “I figured if I am going to do all this work I want to doing it as best as I can.”

Her best, which feels likes she is nowhere meeting, lead to a state championship as a freshman and has had continued this year as she hasn’t given up a point all year, even competing in Nevada against an Oregon state runner-up.

“She’s like let’s go to work, and gets after it,” Basha coach Mike Garcia said. “Her arm-bar series is deadly and she’s like try and stop it with a smile.”

Naccarati-Cholo was definitely all smiles afterward while holding the championship bracket and thinking about what just might come her way – like a second state championship with a chance to win two more after that.

“I just keep telling myself I am the best and someone has to prove to me I’m not,” she said. “I use words of affirmation to make sure I keep getting better. I work hard and I don’t want anyone taking away what I work so hard for."

 

Marana's Owen Prosper (left) and Eastmark’s Brylee Colwell (right) received the Coach D Intensity Award, presented by Mesa coach and Arizona wrestling hall of famer David DiDomenico. (Jason P. Skoda/AZPreps365)

 

 

 

Show Low's Ruthie Wilhelm was named Outstanding Wrestler. (Jason P. Skoda/AzPreps365)

 

Tournament director Jeff Hartman and Basha's Hannah Naccarati-Cholo, who was named one of the Outstanding Wrestlers. (Jason P. Skoda/AZPreps365)

Results

100

1st Place Match

• Rebekah Ponce (Desert Ridge High School) 45-1, Jr. over Khyla Lipumano (Yuma Catholic) 27-5, Sr. (Dec 11-10)

3rd Place Match

• Lailani Strong (Morenci ) 26-7, Fr. over Shaylee Smead (Marana High School) 35-9, Fr. (Fall 4:59)

5th Place Match

• Katie McCann (Campo Verde High School) 27-5, Sr. over Rhyan Tijerina (Millenium ) 16-4, Jr. (For.)

107

1st Place Match

• Ruthie Wilhelm (Show Low) 22-1, So. over Emmy Lopez (Miyamura) 22-7, Jr. (Fall 3:00)

3rd Place Match

• Athea Valenzuela (Desert Ridge High School) 10-2, Sr. over Mia Pietryka (Campo Verde High School) 25-4, Jr. (SV-1 3-0)

5th Place Match

• Abigail Barfield (Yuma Catholic) 30-4, So. over Jolene Ostrander (Coolidge) 14-5, Sr. (Fall 2:56)

 

114

1st Place Match

• Brisa Gonzalez (Round Valley) 32-3, Fr. over Gabriela Lyons (Boulder Creek) 25-8, So. (Fall 4:48)

3rd Place Match

• Malina Moore (Marana High School) 34-6, So. over kiana gay (Higley ) 16-5, Jr. (Fall 2:07)

5th Place Match

• Kaliyah Molina (Yuma Catholic) 8-2, So. over Samantha Gregory (Coolidge) 4-3, Jr. (M. For.)

120

1st Place Match

• Hannah Naccarati-Cholo (Basha) 37-0, So. over Nelly Rawlings (Show Low) 23-7, So. (Fall 3:33)

3rd Place Match

• Kaylee Coleman (Sandra Day O`Conner) 45-6, Sr. over Sara Shumway (Snowflake ) 24-3, Jr. (Fall 0:46)

5th Place Match

• Ella Ferrin (Red Mountain ) 22-6, Jr. over Scarlet Hargan (Coconino High School) 28-6, Jr. (Dec 11-4)

 

126

1st Place Match

• Braylin Hermes (Campo Verde High School) 22-6, So. over Alexis Morales (Miyamura) 26-5, Jr. (Dec 10-4)

3rd Place Match

• Taizly Newman (Round Valley) 27-3, Jr. over Sophia Davidson (Boulder Creek) 25-8, Sr. (Fall 0:25)

5th Place Match

• Kyla Lemora (Red Mountain ) 15-12, Jr. over Madi De La Cruz (Snowflake ) 16-9, Sr. (Fall 2:59)

 

132

1st Place Match

• Rebekah Hodges (Campo Verde High School) 28-0, Sr. over Roxi Singer (Marana High School) 33-2, Sr. (Fall 3:21)

3rd Place Match

• Vonetta Merrell (Coconino High School) 20-5, So. over summer hockett (Higley ) 19-3, Sr. (Dec 8-3)

5th Place Match

• Rheanna Tree (Red Mesa) 17-2, Sr. over Julia Jones (Snowflake ) 15-8, Jr. (Fall 2:45)

138

1st Place Match

• Brylee Colwell (Eastmark) 7-0, Jr. over Nyla Naugle (Red Mountain ) 23-5, So. (TF-1.5 4:40 (20-3))

3rd Place Match

• Juliana De Marco (Poston Butte) 20-3, Jr. over McKenna Hardy (Winslow ) 17-3, Jr. (Dec 11-4)

5th Place Match

• Julianna Arvizu (Basha) 24-10, Sr. over Brooklinn Baldwin (Snowflake ) 23-5, Jr. (Dec 6-2)

 

145

1st Place Match

• Emma Corley (Boulder Creek) 31-1, Sr. over Lola Terraza (Campo Verde High School) 21-8, So. (Fall 1:59)

3rd Place Match

• Ava Harding (Show Low) 20-6, So. over Mikayla veldman (Higley ) 4-2, So. (Fall 1:40)

5th Place Match

• Bristol Skinner (Williams) 15-5, So. over DeMarius Morris (Page High School) 18-10, So. (Fall 2:47)

 

152

1st Place Match

• Rianna Tate (Poston Butte) 19-1, Sr. over Ashlyn Young (Millenium ) 14-2, Sr. (Dec 11-4)

3rd Place Match

• Emma Vickery (Red Mountain ) 20-6, So. over Savanna Strange (Red Mesa) 9-5, So. (Fall 2:59)

5th Place Match

• lily unger (Higley ) 4-2, Jr. over Ellie Garza (Sandra Day O`Conner) 36-7, So. (M. For.)

165

1st Place Match

• Isra Faja (Sandra Day O`Conner) 40-3, Sr. over Veronica Rodriguez (Miyamura) 24-3, Sr. (Fall 4:29)

3rd Place Match

• Mareli Marin (Snowflake ) 20-7, Jr. over Leila Millanes (Red Mountain ) 19-4, So. (Fall 1:57)

5th Place Match

• Kaylani Lyons (Desert Ridge High School) 13-5, Sr. over Tobe Holliday (Round Valley) 28-4, Sr. (Fall 2:31)

 

185

1st Place Match

• Cynthia Martinez (Morenci ) 34-3, Sr. over Avery Williams (Sandra Day O`Conner) 36-9, So. (Fall 2:37)

3rd Place Match

• Shanelle Tallsalt (Page High School) 21-3, Sr. over Kiara Lewis (Hamilton High School) 14-4, Sr. (Dec 11-4)

5th Place Match

• Eliyah Pahe (Blue Ridge) 26-5, Sr. over Jalysa Berry (Red Mountain ) 15-8, Fr. (SV-1 7-4)

235

1st Place Match

• Sydney Valentino (Coconino High School) 10-2, So. over Abigail Hammers (Poston Butte) 3-8, So. (Fall 2:52)

3rd Place Match

• Mosi Vaomotou (Campo Verde High School) 13-15, Jr. over Haylie Jim (Tuba City) 5-8, Sr. (Fall 4:23)

5th Place Match

• Patryce Lomayestewa (Winslow ) 4-9, Sr. over Katelyn Begay (Joseph City ) 5-7, Sr. (Fall 0:40)