Lady Pros own the mat at Red Lion Invitational

{child_byline}By JUSTIN DAVIS

Blue Mountain Eagle{/child_byline}

PENDLETON — You wrestle like a girl. For years those words were spoken as an insult.

The Grant Union girls wrestling team is doing their part to turn that insult into a compliment. The Lady Prospector grapplers beat out 15 other girls teams from across the 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A landscape to capture the Red Lion Invitational championship on Dec. 21 in Pendleton.

The Lady Pros scored 113 team points at the tournament to hold off second-place Nyssa, which finished with 111 team points. East Valley out of Yakima, Washington (72), Hood River Valley (63) and Ontario (52) rounded out the top five finishers.

The Lady Pros crowned three individual champions at the tournament: Jaydika Anderson at 170 pounds, Sivanna Hodge at 190 pounds and defending state champion Mallory Lusco at 235 pounds.

Anderson went 3-0 in the tournament, spending less than 2:30 in total on the mat while recording three pinfall victories. Hodge finished the tournament with a 2-1 record, winning her championship matchup with Sierra Jaschke of Sisters by fall in 1:49.

Lusco’s journey to the tournament championship was a bit more dramatic than those of her teammates. Lusco won her championship match over Ashlyn Dennis of Madras by way of a 4-2 result in sudden victory.

Lusco finished the tournament with a 5-0 record. She was also named most outstanding wrestler at the Red Lion Invitational.

The Lady Pros had other wrestlers make their mark in the tournament. Zoey Beam and Macy Carter took home second place hardware at 115 and 125 pounds, respectively.

Serenity Marcano was the lone third-place finisher for the Lady Pros at 170 pounds. Emma Schlarbaum and Tyra Sharp rounded out the top four finishers for Grant Union. Schalrbaum and Sharp placed fourth in the 135 and 170 pound weight classes.

The Lady Pros ended the Red Lion Invitational with eight top four finishers.

“I’m really proud of our girls. They wrestled very hard and have improved their skill and conditioning a lot from the beginning of the season,” Grant Union head wrestling coach Andy Lusco said.

Lusco also said that his team believes they will be right there with the best teams in the state at season’s end.

“We believe that we are in the mix to compete for top five at state,” he said. “It is a tall order.”