Four Blaine girls wrestlers placed in their respective weight classes January 22 at the River Ridge Rumble in Lacey. Junior Genesis Vazquez took first at 110, sophomore Milania Rodriguez took third at 135, and sophomore Kristin Ward and junior Rayanne Mutchler took fourth at 140 and 235 pounds.
“I think we’ve come a long way from the beginning of the year,” head coach Damon Higgins said. “The girls have dedicated a lot of time and effort.”
Higgins has been the girls wrestling coach for the better part of 10 years, and he said he has an impressive group of girls this year. Starting the season with 18 girls, the team is now down to 14. He said in years past he’s had around five girls and some years even just a single wrestler.
But this year he has to limit how many he can bring to a tournament. He said he brought 10 girls to the River Ridge Rumble last weekend and eight competed.
The girls will move on to post-season competition next.
Higgins said he decided to pull the girls from the final regular season tournament due to the risk of getting Covid-19 ruining any post-season chances. He said due to Covid-19, the team has had only a fraction of outings as it would typically have in a normal season. This has limited the team’s growth, as there are fewer opportunities to compete, he said. However, the team is looking in good shape for the end of the season.
Higgins said several of the girls on the team could make it to state, and that it’s a matter of peaking at the right time and avoiding Covid-19 exposure. “And I think we are looking in good shape right now,” he said.
Sports roundup
Boys basketball
The Borderites traveled to Mount Baker last week and beat the Mountaineers by a convincing 67-32. The boys had a home game scheduled for January 24 against Sultan that was canceled.
They were scheduled to play Squalicum at home January 26. Then they travel to Oak Harbor Thursday, January 27, and are back at home Tuesday, February 1, against Nooksack. All games are at 7:15 p.m.
The boys are 8-5 this season.
Girls basketball
The Lady Borderites lost 50-29 to Meridian on the road this weekend. The girls were scheduled to play at Squalicum January 26 at 7:35 p.m.
They then host Oak Harbor Friday, January 28, and travel to Nooksack Wednesday, February 2. Both games are at 7:15 p.m.
The girls are 4-8.
Boys wrestling
Boys varsity wrestling squared up against Lynden last week in a conference matchup. They then traveled to Quincy for a multi-school tournament January 22. They were scheduled to face Meridian and Sehome at Meridian January 26 at 6 p.m.
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