Olentangy Orange coach Vanessa Oswalt was nervous and yet confident as her team trailed Marysville 24-9 in the title match of the second annual Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association girls state dual tournament.
The Pioneers rewarded Oswalt's faith, rallying to beat the host Monarchs 42-36 on Sunday for their second consecutive state duals championship.
"I was definitely concerned," said Oswalt, whose team also defeated Marysville 42-32 in last season's state final. "I know the girls can perform, but you just never know who's going to show up, how they're going to wrestle and what's going through their heads. However, I know our Orange girls perform and when they step on that mat, they're ready to wrestle, so I have faith in them."
Talia Mitchell clinched the championship by pinning Lori Grimes in 48 seconds at 190 pounds. Orange won six of the final eight bouts, including five by pin.
"I wasn't concerned," said Kascidy Garren, whose 8-5 win over Aubrey Reese at 170 helped fuel the comeback. "I told everyone on our team that I had no doubt we were going to win. It's stressful, but I knew that Surraiya (Mahmud) was going to pull it off, I was going to pull it off, (that) Talia (and) Alicia (Coleman would win). I knew that we were going to get the job done."
Also winning by pin were Lucie Scheibeck at 130 (47 seconds), Coleman at 135 (1:10), Mahmud at 145 (1:22) and Lydia Heinrich at 155 (57 seconds).
"This shows that we stay consistent with hard work and putting our girls in position to where they can grow," Oswalt said. "The girls work hard and we work them hard. We want to show them what discipline and hard work can get them. We're at the top and we're going to continue to work."
Earning pins for Marysville were Paige Krueger at 105 (1:26), Lauren Mobley at 110 (1:10), Malia Burkhardt at 120 (2:19), Cali Leng at 125 (39 seconds), Lillian McKinney at 140 (2:51) and Desi Lee at 235 (1:37).
"Our girls wrestled extremely hard," Monarchs coach Tim Crane said. "We had two tight duals with Harrison and Orange. They were exciting. They were hard-fought matches. We had eight very good teams here. The duals were exciting, they were close (and) they were fun. This is where this sport is going."
Orange defeated Alliance 66-19 in a quarterfinal and Delaware Hayes 51-26 in a semifinal, while Marysville beat Minerva 60-18 and Harrison 45-36.
Harrison defeated Delaware 42-39 in the third-place match.
All of the matches were held Sunday.
"Every girl gave great effort," Delaware coach Kevin Rieman said. "Sometimes the results don't go your way. There were some matches we thought we could have won that we didn't, but that happens. All we care about is their attitude and their effort, and they were all great with that today, so we're happy."
The teams will have another chance to earn hardware in the sport's first OHSAA-sanctioned postseason. The individual state tournament will be held along with the boys tournament March 10-12 at Value City Arena.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Olentangy Orange High School wins girls wrestling state duals
