By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
KEIZER, Ore.– McNary’s Marlina Martinez had a tough challenge in her first District Title victory Saturday afternoon against Dallas’ Ah Pymm McDaniel.
Martinez led 3-0 after the first period and was faced with an aggressive ground game in the second period from McDaniel. The Dragon senior can score in a hurry and try to take advantage of being on top to score and possibly go for a pin.
But Martinez was prepared. She’s seen the arm bar game that McDaniel was trying to play on her at the Kelso Braided 64 Tournament and held McDaniel scoreless in the second period.
Martinez added to her lead in the third period, adding cushion in case McDaniel capitalized on one of her mistakes that never came to fruition as the Celtic sophomore picked up the 7-0 victory.
“I didn’t want to oveethink it or anything. I know she liked the arm bar, and I heard her coaches kept yelling it out. ‘OK, she’s going for the arm bar, just be calm, be calm, I got this,’ and that’s how I learned. Mainly, it’s a mindset for me, i had to overcome oveethinking, and I feel like I did pretty good with it,” said Martinez.
The Celtics saw two District Title winners Saturday with McNary’s McKenna Unger winning the 145-pound title with a second round pin. The juniors’ second District Title came on the heels of Unger winning her 100th career match earlier this season at South Salem.
North Salem’s Saira Vipperman made Unger work for the Title. The Viking Junior kept the match to their feet and kept it scoreless after one period. Unger chose to start on top to start the second period, and that was where Unger began to break down Vipperman for the eventual pin at the 3:38 mark of the match.
“She’s really good, I really had to work for that. I have nothing but for respect for her,” starts Unger. “Just putting in the work, and I’m pretty excited to be wrestling at State this year. I just got to keep working at it.”
Jessica Cottings (105)Solé Bartlemay (115) and Cadence Fineran (130) all finished third in their respective weight classes.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
