By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– When the whistle blew to signal pin, Wirfs rose to her knees and her hands met her face as the senior got emotional knowing what she achieved:
Regional Champion.
Becoming the first Sprague Olympian Girls Wrestler to accomplish the feat in the short-history of the program, defeating Dallas’ Gabriella Dyer by second round pin to make the destiny run possible.
“That moment to me, for this being my first time ever placing first at Regionals and this only being my fourth-year, it felt amazing. After all my years of wrestling, this feels like my biggest accomplishment. Yeah, I placed at State before, but this was bigger for me,” said Wirfs. “To leave my mark and this being my final year at Sprague, it feels amazing.
“I feel like after this, girls next year who are coming into the program are going to be like, ‘hey I know that girl Evelyn, I know what she’s done’ and it’s going to feel amazing.”
With State on the horizon, she’s hoping to contribute to the Olympian program one last time before she’s done. Joining her are MacKenna Carter, who finished fourth at 100 pounds, and Isabella Wilburn, who finished third at 110 pounds.
Wilburn, after two years of heartbreak by finishing fifth and just outside of qualifying for State, finally got over the hump with her third-place finish at the Regional Tournament.
“I’m just really happy to have made it here as a senior to go to State,” said Wilburn. “I want to work more on techinque, I think I do have muscle and I throw a lot of muscle at things, so I want to slow it down, setting up my shots a lot better and just fixing up my techinque.”
The 5A/6A State Wrestling Tournament starts here in two weeks up in Portland.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
