TACOMA — The Royal girls wrestling team left Tacoma with hardware for the second straight season, placing third as a team in the 2A/1A/B Girls classification at the Mat Classic last weekend.

Royal also placed third in 2023, and ninth as a team in 2022.

“It was really cool, a fun weekend for the girls,” Royal Head Coach Jesus Carlos Villa said. “They put a lot of work in, and I think a lot of their success came from their previous experience; they’re self-motivated, self-driven.”

The Knights brought four wrestlers to this year’s Mat Classic, three of whom were state veterans; sophomore Sharon Arroyo, junior Lauren Jenks and senior Emma Villa. Royal’s lone first-time state wrestler was sophomore Analy Castillo.

Despite three returning state wrestlers, the Knights still had to make up for the loss of Alondra Morales, a two-time state champion who graduated in 2023.

“They knew that they lost Alondra (Morales), and they felt that there were going to be people who thought that they weren’t going to be able to place as well as they did in previous years,” Jesus Carlos Villa said. “That was their big thing — they came together as a team, those four girls, and said ‘Hey, we know we don’t have the numbers that these other girls do, but what we do is we pin people.’”

To replicate their third-place finish from a year ago, it came down to two things; coming together as a team, and pinning the competition.

“Some kids in wrestling think of wrestling as an individual sport — and it is individual, but it’s also a team sport, where you come together and support one another because, ultimately, if everyone can be successful, then as a team you can get these cool things,” Jesus Carlos Villa said. “We know we didn’t get these numbers that the other schools did into the state tournament, but if we can get these pins and rack up more points than these other girls that are winning by a couple points, we can beat them as a team.”

All four Knight wrestlers reached the podium; Jenks took fourth in the 135-pound bracket, while Castillo placed third in the 235-pound class. Arroyo (100) and Emma Villa (170) both reached the finals in their respective weight classes.

Arroyo, who placed third a year ago at the Mat Classic,  finished second after losing in a 12-9 decision to Washington’s Kyler Menza in the 2A/1A/B Girls 100-pound finals. Jesus Carlos Villa pointed to the confidence that the sophomore had to be able to reach the finals.

“It showed how she had that confidence, she wrestled with a lot of confidence this weekend,” Villa said. “I was really excited because she was kind of under the radar a little bit, even though she took third last year. She really proved herself; she showed up one match at a time.”

Emma Villa returned to the state tournament after back-to-back years in the top three of her weight classes, placing second in the Girls 155-pound class in 2022 and third in the 2A/1A/B 170-pound class in 2023.

“I came in feeling really confident,” Emma Villa said. “I worked really hard — me and my teammates — throughout the entire season. We put in a lot of work.”

The senior, who finished the year undefeated, defeated Montesano’s Kya Roundtree in a 6-1 decision in the finals to crown her as a champion.

“She was fully confident this year,” Jesus Carlos Villa said. “I felt good, as a dad, when we had a conversation a few days leading up to the state tournament. She said, ‘Dad, all these other years, the pressure that I felt, it was just me. This weekend, I’m just going to have fun.’ … that was really awesome.”

With three state placers returning next season, as well as a large underclassmen group on the brink of qualifying for the state tournament, the enthusiasm about the 2024-25 season is already there for the Knights.

“These girls, they’re excited already — they were kind of upset, they couldn’t believe the (season’s) over already,” Jesus Carlos Villa said. “They wanted to wrestle one more.”

In the 1A Boys tournament, both Royal wrestlers who qualified for state left with medals; sophomores Dennis Hernandez (113, third) and Shea Stevenson (150, second).

“Those guys, they showed up to the tournament and were really focused,” Royal boys wrestling head coach Darrin Miller said. “They knew that they just had to wrestle one match at a time to keep in the tournament. Their goal was to get medals, so they were just super focused and they knew what they wanted and had to do.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Royal sophomore Analy Castillo, left, placed third in the 2A/1A/B 235-pound class at the Mat Classic last weekend.
  

    Royal sophomore Sharon Arroyo, top, wrestles in the 2A/1A/B 100-pound finals.