Sophie Parrish is a region champion for the second time and will be one of four Caldwell County wrestlers to advance to the KHSAA State Tournament.
The Lady Tigers finished in fourth place at Saturday’s Region 1 Tournament at Central Hardin High School. Wrestlers from Regions 1-3 comprised the field and the top four in each weight class moved on to the state tournament.
Parrish (36-6) is the state’s third-ranked wrestler in the 100-pound class according to the latest ranking by Kentuckywrestling.com. In the semifinals, she took down the No. 5 wrestler Lily Autry of Ohio County.
Parrish then defeated Nelson County’s Madyson Votaw with a second-round pin in the championship. She was trailing 3-1 before a reversal gave her the advantage needed to claim the title over Votaw, who was the No. 4 wrestler in the 107-pound class but dropped to 100 for the region.
Parrish finished in fourth place last year in the 100-pound class, while Votaw was third at 107.
Keirli Herran, Lexi Gobin, and Virginia Stewart also qualified for the state tournament with a top-four finish on Saturday.
Stewart (28-14) was the runner-up in the 235-pound class for the second straight year. She defeated Trigg County’s Kambrie Whitlock in the semifinals before falling to Henderson County’s Evelyn Estes, the state’s seventh-ranked wrestler, in the championship match.
Herran (20-23) scored a third-place finish in the 145-pound class. Her lone loss of the day came to Daviess County’s Kali Nichols in the semifinals. Nichols was the No. 4 wrestler in the 152-pound class but dropped a weight for the region tourney. Herran rebounded to beat Fort Campbell’s Jennifer Velazquez by fall in the consolation semifinals and took care of Henderson County’s Serenity Rivera in less than a minute in the third-place match.
Gobin (29-12) finished in fourth place in the 138-pound class. After a second-round loss, she bounced back with three straight wins before falling to John Hardin’s Alex Rhinesmith. Gobin entered the weekend ranked No. 2, while Rhinesmith was No. 6.
Jessie Jenkins (32-21) finished in fifth place in the 126-pound class and will be the first alternate for the state tourney. She finished 4-2 and capped her day with a win over North Hardin’s Claire Skeeters in the 5th-place match.
Also reaching the medal podium for Caldwell County were Kamyra Dickey (20-19) in the 114-pound class and Anna Urbanowski (6-29) in the 152-pound class.
Aniyaree Wilson was 2-2 and advanced to the third consolation round at 120.
Alyvia Barnwell went 2-2 at 107; Payten Simmons was 2-2 at 185; and Hailey Scott was 0-2 at 165.
As a team, Caldwell County was fourth with 122 points, two more than defending region champion Union County. North Hardin (167) finished in first place followed by Fort Campbell (138) and Henderson County (130.5).
The KHSAA Girls’ State Wrestling Tournament will be on Thursday, Feb. 27 at Alltech Arena in Lexington.
