Fall girls: Top 6A wrestlers finish with style at state finals
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- Skyridge sophomore Madison Sherman celebrates after winning her championship match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake junior Keilikki nau Rarick (right) competes in her championship match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake senior Celeste Detoles celebrates her fourth straight title after her championship match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake wrestler Keilikki nau Rarick takes a moment after winning the championship match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake wrestler Keilikki nau Rarick lifts her opponent off the ground during the championship match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake senior O`dessa Laititi celebrates winning her title match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake senior O`dessa Laititi celebrates winning her title match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake senior O`dessa Laititi looks to pin her opponent during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Skyridge wrestler Madison Sherman tries to stay focused during an injury timeout in her match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Skyridge wrestler Madison Sherman competes in her match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Westlake wrestler Celeste Detoles (left) competes in her match during the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
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- Wrestlers walk through fog and colored lights as part of the Parade of Champions before Cedar Valley wrestler Arisna Stott (right) competes the 2024 state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.
Just call them the Fall Girls.
Four Utah Valley wrestlers emerged from two days of tough competition at the 6A finals at the UCCU Center in Orem as state champions — and all four did it by pinning their opponents.
The most dramatic victory came from Skyridge sophomore Madison Sherman in the 145-poind division, who found herself in a big hole against Mountain Ridge sophomore Olivia Merino.
Sherman was down and frustrated as the match kept getting delayed because Merino’s nose was bleeding. A couple of bad holds resulted in the Sentinel wrestler extending her lead and forced Sherman to made a tough decision.
“He was telling me to do moves I hadn’t done before, then he told me to go to neutral,” Sherman said. “I’m usually top or bottom, so I was really nervous about doing that. I thought about how if I did what I wanted to do and didn’t make it, it would be a disappointment for not listening. So I believed in him and went for it.”
Sherman went after Merino and used her quickness to get an advantage, taking her opponent to the mat.
“I did a headlock,” Sherman said. “I’m not very good at those but I ended up trying to throw it and kept a hold of her head the whole time. She was able to get over and then you’ve just got to keep on your toes. I was able to flip her over.”
Sherman went from being significantly behind to hearing the referee slap the mat and blow the whistle, signaling she had pinned Merino and won the state title.
“It felt amazing,” Sherman said. “I’m still shaking like crazy.”
Westlake senior Celeste Detoles didn’t need to match Sherman’s dramatic comeback but she found herself working just as hard as the final seconds ticked off the clock in her match against Davis’s Jessica Mangelson in the 135-poind championship.
Detoles was going for her fourth straight title and she had enough points to qualify for the technical fall — but she wanted to close out her career the right way.
“It was really hard to pin her honestly,” Detoles said. “She was really strong and really flexible. I really wanted the pin. I feel like for me, I just really love to be dominant in my matches. I feel like getting the pin says that a lot. I just really wanted to get it.”
It took until there were just six seconds left but Detoles reached goal, finally getting Mangelson on her back.
“I was just trying to do my best out there,” Detoles said. “I was really happy.”
Detoles joined the elite club of wrestlers who won state titles all four years of competition.
“It’s something I’ve wanted since I was little, since I was six years old,” Detoles said. “I wanted it since I first starting wrestling when my dad put me into it. It’s always been the goal when I went to high school. I was just hoping that girls would get sanctioned in time and luckily they did my very first year, so it’s a great accomplishment.”
As she took a moment to reflect on her career, one of the biggest satisfactions Detoles had was the success of girls wrestling.
“It’s been amazing to see the sport grow as well as myself, to just go out there and do what I should as well as help my team,” Detoles said. “Hopefully one day they’ll do just as good. I’m already seeing so many of our girls just go out there and put themselves out there and just really go for it. I’m just super happy for them.”
She did get to see her two teammates win titles as well as senior O`dessa Laititi pinned Hope Barton of Syracuse in the 190-pound finals and junior Keilikki nau Rarick pinned Mountain Ridge’s Hannah Whitlock in the 235-pound title match.
“They did so good,” Detoles said. “O’dessa is up and coming and I don’t think people should overlook her. She’s clearly doing amazing out there and beat a really good wrestler just barely. And Likki (Rarick) is amazing as well. She’s already dominant.”
Rarick also wanted to get the pin to close out her match, although it wasn’t easy.
“It was a good match,” Rarick said. “I just went with the flow.”
It was Rarick’s third straight title, so she has the chance to match Detoles by going 4-for-4.
“We were seeing who was going to be the first one but I guess she got it,” Rarick said with a grin. “She’s awesome.”
Thunder head coach Cody Burdett said it was great to see Detoles, Laititi and Rarick achieve their potential and win the three title matches.
“We had our three finalists and they came through and wrestled really smart,” Burdett said. “Coming from last year where we had a lot of seniors and graduated a lot of girls, this was a different type of team and these girls really did a good job.”
Westlake had won all three state 6A titles since girls wrestling was sanctioned in 2020-21, but this year was a rebuilding year and the result was that the Thunder ended up fifth as Copper Hills won the 6A team title.
“It was really fun to win the championships but this year was more enjoyable because the girls are hungry to learn,” Burdett said. “I spent a lot of time recruiting because we lost so much. We had 10 girls coming back from last year that were actually on the team, so we brought in a ton of girls. It’s a different experience but I had more fun this year.”
Two other local wrestlers also reached the 6A finals in their divisions but Pleasant Grove’s Hallie Hansen (115 pounds) and Skyridge’s Nadia Thomas (130-pounds) lost in their championship matches.
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