Oregon (OSAA) girls wrestling state championships preview: West Linn’s Destiny Rodriguez headlines 7 nationally ranked wrestlers in field

The Oregon high school girls wrestling state championships take place Thursday in Culver. Here's a look at what to expect.

The Oregon high school girls wrestling state championships take place Thursday in Culver. Here's a look at what to expect.

—

Top seeds (returning champions in italics)

100 Chelo Garcia, Jr., Siletz Valley/Eddyville Charter

105 Kaylee Annis, Jr., Thurston

110 Analise Smith, Sr., Bend

115 Paige Chafin, Sr., Sweet Home

120 Haley Vann, Jr., Cleveland

125 Ayana Medina, Sr., Hillsboro

130 MacKenzie Shearon, Fr., Redmond

135 Makaila Takahashi, Sr., Forest Grove

140 Bella Amaro, Sr., Oregon City

145 Averie Stockwell, Sr., Thurston

155 Destiny Rodriguez, Jr., West Linn

170 Kami Hart, Sr., Sweet Home

190 Ella Taplin, Sr., Forest Grove

235 Faith Wooley, Sr., Liberty

Other returning champions

120 Estella Gutches, Jr., North Medford

125 Sophia Redwine, Sr., Newberg

Most state qualifiers

1, (tie) North Medford and St. Helens 6. 3, Hillsboro 5. 4, (tie) Bend, Forest Grove, Grant Union, La Pine, McKay, Newport, Taft and Thurston 4.

What to watch

Uneasy lies the crown on the head of 2-time champion Thurston

Two-time champion Thurston will not have an easy go of earning a three-peat. The Colts have only four wrestlers in the field, and while two earned top seeds and a third — freshman 130-pounder Kristal Zamora — is a No. 4, they might not have the depth to hold off North Medford, St. Helens or Hillsboro, all viable challengers to the crown.

Powerhouse finals await if form holds at 120, 125

Both the 120- and 125-pound weight classes could match a couple of returning champions in the title bout. At 120, Vann enters the state meet No. 8 at 117 in the USA Wrestling national rankings released February 11, where she could meet Gutches, the latest in her family to win a state title. Both Medina (No. 14 at 132) and Redwine (No. 24 at 122), the top two seeds at 125, enter the state meet with national rankings.

West Linn’s Rodriguez headlines 7 nationally ranked wrestlers in field

Rodriguez moved up one spot in USA Wrestling’s pound-for-pound national rankings to No. 11, although she remains No. 2 at 152 behind Amit Elor of Concord, Calif. She joins Annis (No. 22 at 106), Hillsboro’s Alice Rickett (No. 25 at 127 but the No. 2 seed behind Shearon at 130) and Amaro (No. 13 at 138) among other ranked wrestlers at Culver this week.

Former state champion Anna McDougal, a Central Linn senior who received honorable mention at 164, enters the state meet unseeded in the 170 bracket after losing to Tillamook’s Jennifer Delatorre in the district final.