KELSO — Going up against more than 80 girls from Washington and Oregon this weekend, East Jefferson’s Mi Amada Lanphear-Ramirez finished second at the two-day Braided 64 girls wrestling tournament held in Kelso.
This is the largest girls’ wrestling tournament in Washington, featuring more than 900 athletes from more than 50 schools.
“This is a tougher tournament then when we go to the state [Mat Classic] tournament. Every tough girl from Washington is there and also some tough teams from Oregon, too,” said East Jefferson wrestling coach Steve Grimm. “She is currently the No. 2-ranked girl in the entire state.”
Lanphear-Ramirez competed in a 128-girl bracket at 115 pounds. She went 6-1 over two days. In the early rounds, she won two matches by pin another with an 11-0 major decision and a fourth with a 7-0 decision.
In the semifinals, she won with another major decision, 17-7 over Kira Songer of Marysville Getchell. Songer finished second in the Mat Classic in her division among 3A/4A schools last March.
In the championship match, she was pinned in the third round by Marjorie McDaniel of Orting, a 2A school. McDaniel finished second at 110 pounds at the Mat Classic and the two wrestlers could very well meet again at the Tacoma Dome in a couple of months.
Lanphear-Ramirez so far this season has a first-place finish from the Hammerhead Invite on Dec. 16 and second-place finishes at the Braided 64, North Mason Hawkins Memorial and the Forks Invite. She was third last year at the Mat Classic.
Lanphear-Ramirez earned 30 team points. Zinna Berg earned nine points at 190 pounds by winning two matches and Gracee Liske earned six points at 120 pounds by winning a match as East Jefferson earned 45 team points.
