Coleman, Osborne, Farris among top girls seeds
Feb. 22—Girl wrestlers in West Virginia will get their chance to shine in Huntington, and now the seeds have been released.
The girls state tournament will be held March 2, running concurrently with the boys consolation placement matches at Mountain Health Arena. That session will begin at 10:30 a.m., with four mats for boys and four for girls.
Boys and girls championships will start at 6 p.m. Two mats will be used for Class AAA boys and Class AA/A boys and a third for girls.
The first four tournaments were held in Parkersburg. The sport is still not sanctioned in West Virginia, but the decision to hold the tournament with the boys was made to increase the sport's exposure.
The girls tournament, which started in 2020, will be bracketed for the first time. There will be 12 weight classes.
The seeds for the tournament have been announced, and several are from southern West Virginia. That includes Liberty senior Karlie Osborne, the top seed at 132 pounds.
Osborne will be looking to repeat as a state champion. She went in as the No. 1 seed at 138 last season and defeated Musselman's Cicely Cullins 11-4 to secure the championship.
Teammate Lucy Farris is the No. 1 seed at 152.
Oak Hill sophomore Kirclyn Coleman also goes in as a reigning state champion. Her pin of East Fairmont's Somya Cottingham with one second left in the match gave her the title at 114.
This year Coleman moves to 120, where she is the No. 2 seed behind Parkersburg South's Justice Anthony.
Making her return to wrestling after sitting out her junior season and most of this year will be Kenzi Taylor of Independence. Despite missing that time, Taylor is seeded third at 126 behind No. 1 Charlotte Kershisnik of Washington and No. 2 Kerrington Bennett of Musselman.
Taylor won the 101-pound middle school championship in the event's inaugural season, then missed it her freshman year before winning the 123 title as a sophomore. She was also a two-time qualifier for the boys state tournament.
Two weeks ago, Taylor wrestled at the Coalfield Conference Tournament and finished fourth at 120.
Other area girls seeded for the state tournament are: Brooklynn McClure (Shady Spring, second, 100); Maya Frank (Greenbrier East, fourth, 120); Zoee Meadows (Nicholas County, fourth, 132); Makenzie Hanshaw (Nicholas County, third, 138); Emily Morris (Princeton, fourth, 145); Kya Osborne (Oak Hill, third, 152); Brooke Bennett (Princeton, fourth, 185); Maddy Lucas (Liberty, third, 235); and Claire Holt (Princeton, fourth, 235).
Liberty goes in as the state's second-ranked girls team behind Parkersburg South. Shady Spring is seventh, Greenbrier East eighth and Princeton ninth.
For a complete list of entries, go to wvmat.com.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5
