LA GRANDE — Thiri Dahl and Gabby Kennedy each placed second to help Pendleton to a fourth-place finish at the 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 3 championships Saturday, and will lead a contingent of five wrestlers to the state tournament.
The state tournament is Feb. 26-28 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Host La Grande won the team title with 272.5 points, while Nyssa was second (137), Vale third (122.5) and the Bucks fourth with 102. Riverside finished fifth (91.5), Heppner was ninth (63), Irrigon 10th (59), Echo/Stanfield 11th (56.5), Union/Cove 13th (54), Elgin 19th (24), Umatilla 21st (22.5), McLoughlin 24th (11) and Weston-McEwen was 25th (9).
Dahl pinned her first two opponents at 155 pounds, then earned a 10-5 decision over Emelyn Aguayo of Nyssa in the semifinals. In the championship match, Hailey Jacobs of Vale pinned Dahl in 3:12.
Kennedy received byes to the semifinals, where she pinned Cinthia Madrigal of Irrigon in 2:27. In the finals, Sierra Jaschke of Sisters pinned Kennedy in 38 seconds.
Harlee James played third for the Bucks at 190 pounds. She won her placing match with a 1:37 pin of Hailey Wright of Union/Cove.
Also headed to state for the Bucks are Hazel Case, who placed fourth at 130, and Madison Chase, who was fourth at 170.
Weston-McEwen’s Laila Jones will be the lone TigerScot at state. After losing the third-place match, she pinned Irrigon’s Iilah Abercrombie of Irrigon in 53 seconds to place fourth.
