Girls head to wrestling sub-regionals

SPANGLE — Tekoa-Rosalia leads the four-girl Whitman County contingent into the North Subregional wrestling tournament on Saturday at Liberty (Spangle) High School.

The Timberwolves have senior Jesse Casey entered at 135 pounds and freshman Alexis Taylor competing at 145.

Tekoa-Rosalia is the largest team from the county entered in the tournament at the school on Spangle-Waverly Road, about 3 miles southeast of Spangle.

Taylor enters the tournament at 10-1, while Casey enters at 5-5.

Other Whitman County girls in the tournament include Sydney Sisk, of Colfax, and Laynie Southern, of Garfield-Palouse.

Sisk, a sophomore, is competing at 120 pounds, while Southern, a junior, competes at 125 pounds.

Neither Sisk’s nor Southern’s records were available through Track Wrestling, the software system that tracks wrestlers and their standings nationwide.

Timberwolves Coach Roger Harnack is optimistic the local girls have a shot at advancing to regionals.

“But it won’t be easy for Whitman County’s girls,” he said. “The tournament is an all-classification event, meaning small and large schools all compete in the same brackets. And several of the larger schools have travel teams.”

He was referencing teams like North Central, Mead, Othello and Quincy, which all have teams that travel to large, girls-only tournaments.

Only the Top 6 girls at each weight will advance to the regional tournament on Feb. 12 in Ephrata. The seventh-place finisher will be an alternate.

In most weight classes, wrestlers will have to win a minimum of two matches to advance further in the post-season.

Weigh-ins for the subregional tournament are at 9 a.m. Saturday at Liberty High School.

Wrestling begins at 10:30 a.m.