Grand Forks, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—-The Carrington girls wrestling finished in sixth place at the 2023 East Region girls wrestling tournament with 127 points. The Cardinals qualified 10 wrestlers into next weeks state tournament at the FargoDome. Central Cass outpaced the field of 24 teams with 224 points, easily ahead of runner-up Fargo with 194 points. South Border finished third with 136 points, Grand Forks with 133, and West Fargo 130 rounded out the top 5 teams.

Khendra Garcia (2 seed at 140) was the lone Cardinal that advanced to the championship round defeating Shelby Sherman (3 seed) of Central Cass 8-7 in the semifinals. Garcia defeated Mackenzie Thorpe (7 seed) of EEK in the quarterfinals by fall at 3:41 of the second period. Garcia ended the day with a 23-9 overall record and was defeated in the final by the top seed Allyssa Johnson of Grand Forks by fall at 1:14 of the first period. Johnson, considered to be the best overall wrestler in the state for girls improved to 40-0 on the season.

Third place finishers included Mercedes Lura at 120 and Trisa Schroeder at 145. Kennedy Wendel at 135 and Ashley Lindbergh at 250 both finished in fourth place. Wendel lost her semifinal match 5-4 to the number 1 seed and eventual champion from Valley City, Mylee Christianson. Karlee Lesmann finished fifth at 155. Sixth place finishers included Taya Lura at 105 and Kylie Skadberg at 115. Lura was injured in her consolation semifinal after taking an early 6-2 lead, and had to default her next 2 matches. Madalina Cuibuteraneau finished seventh at 130 and Kendall Kovar at 125 finished eighth.

The Carrington girls also qualified for the state team dual tournament last weekend finishing in second place. The girls will wrap up the season next week at the state tournament beginning Thursday (16th) and finishing on Saturday (18th). All Carrington wrestling will be covered on AM 1600 KDAK (THE CARDINAL), FM 100.1, and www.newsdakota.com.