Casselton, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—-The Carrington girls wrestling team went 2-1 at the East Region wrestling tournament and finished in second place behind the top seeded Central Cass (CC) Squirrels. The Squirrels defeated the Cardinals 45-27 in the championship match. The Cards who came into the tournament as the number 3 seed defeated Napoleon-GS (NGS) 54-24 in the opening round and knocked off the second seeded Fargo Stingers 42-27 in  the semifinals. The top four teams all advanced to the 2024 state dual tournament in Fargo on  February 17th at the Fargodome. The Cards picked up wins by pin from Jamisyn Schroeder (100), Taya Lura (106), Juliet Davis (112), Jazmyn Ybarra (124), Khendra Garcia (130), Kendall Kovar (136), and Ashley Lindberg (250) in the 54-24 win over the Imperials. Madalina Ciubotareanu (148) won by forfeit, and NGS picked up wins by fall from Alexis Schneider (118), Jazlyn Weigel (142), and Riley Dewald (155), along with a forfeit victory at 170 for Brynlee Dewald.

Several key matches all went the Cards way in a 42-27 win over the Fargo Stingers. Lura (106), Ybarra (124), Garcia (136), Ciubotareanu (142), Lesmann (170), and Lindberg (250) all won by fall. Kovar (130) won a 6-4 decision over Isabelle Julian, Jillian Parker (190) won a 5-2 decision over Aubrey King. The Stingers picked up wins by pin from Taya Laidlaw (112), Ava Owens (118), Isabelle Naklen (155), and a forfeit victory for Webeline Naklen (148).

CC would control the title match winning eight of thirteen matches and 7 of the matches were won by fall or forfeit. Ybarra (124), Garcia (136) won by pin for the Cards and Lindberg (250) and Aysa Reimche (106) picked up forfeit wins and Karlee Lesmann (170) won a 9-2 decision over Nevaeh Hipsak. CC winners by fall were Mallory Devries (112), Brianna Mayer (118), Grace Lemar (142-forfeit), Lois Schneider (148), Cheyenne Helland (155), Ava Gulleson (190-forfeit), and Anna White (100). Isabelle Dutchuk (130) defeated Kendall Kovar 2-0. Central Cass will be the top seed out of the east with Carrington the number 2 seed. The Fargo Stingers defeated Napoleon-GS 42-30 in the third place match and Grand Forks defeated Pembina County North 42-36 in the fifth place match.

The Carrington girls will host the east region individual tournament next Friday with action starting at 1:00 P.M. and all Cardinal wrestling will be aired on AM 1600 KDAK (THE CARDINAL), FM 100.1, and www.newsdakota.com