TUMWATER — Rivals W.F. West and Centralia were the two biggest winners of the District 4 2A Girls Wrestling Tournament at Black Hills High School Saturday.
The Bearcats smoothly won the overall team title with 255 points, 79 more than second-place Aberdeen. Centralia earned the most individual first-place finishers with three — sophomore Arisbeth Rojas-Ramirez at 110 pounds, junior Eva Reinitz at 115 pounds, and junior Ramona Reinitz at 120 pounds.
Eva Reinitz is now a three-time district champion, while Ramona Reinitz earned her second title after winning as a freshman in 2024.
Sophomore Lilly Gage was W.F. West’s lone first-placer, pulling off multiple upsets to walk away with the 145-pound crown. Tumwater senior Reagan Humphries (190) also took home her second consecutive district championship, and Black Hills freshman Kruz Presley continued her strong debut season with a 100-pound title.
Centralia qualifies six wrestlers for next week’s Mat Classic XXXVI at the Tacoma Dome, including the three-first placers, as well as sophomore Autumn Weinke, 130; junior Jayden Krogness, 135; junior Ana Blankenship, 140; and junior Sydny Andrews, 190.
Rojas-Ramirez came into the tournament with a 10-8 record and had missed several weeks due to injury, yet she only needed to wrestle twice on Saturday to earn her district crown. After receiving byes through the 110-pound quarterfinals, she nearly went the distance against Columbia River’s Natalie Perkins in the semifinals but defeated her via a pin in the final 20 seconds of the match. She then breezed past W.F. West’s Asami Bortoletto in the finals, winning by fall just 64 seconds in to clinch the district title.
Eva Reinitz also only had to wrestle twice for Centralia for a total of two minutes and 45 seconds. She pinned W.F. West’s Sophia Allen in the quarterfinals before cruising past Hockinson’s Amelia Hansen by the same method. Reinitz did not compete in the finals, as her opponent, W.F. West’s Lucy Hornby, medically forfeited.
“Eva wrestled well. She just has to continue to focus on fundamentals and wrestle with confidence, and she should bring home a state title next week,” Centralia head coach Scott Phillips said.
Ramona Reinitz won in a variety of ways to clinch the 120-pound first-place medal. She needed just 19 seconds to win in the quarterfinals before a lengthy delay in the semifinals against W.F. West’s Eden Hornby ended in a decision in favor of Reinitz. No first-place match ended faster than Reinitz’s finals against reigning 2A state 120-pound champion Victoria Nicacio from Washougal, as Reinitz pinned her in just 31 ticks.
Reinitz had a tough start to her junior season, missing a chunk of the campaign due to having elbow surgery just before the season started. But she has been dominant since returning to action, winning 15 of her 18 matches.
“She has worked really hard lately. She also has a great shot to bring home a state title next week,” Phillips said of Reinitz.
Krogness advanced to the finals and earned a runner-up medal, while Weinke and Blankenship placed fourth, and Andrews earned seventh to squeeze into the state bracket.
W.F. West’s success came from its strength in numbers, as a whopping 17 wrestlers scored points for the Bearcats.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the effort these girls showed. It speaks to their strong character,” W.F. West coach Matt Patana said. “Many of them are new to wrestling, and all of them work so hard in practice. We have a great coaching staff, we have great kids, and we try to focus on growing and working hard for each other. These girls are the kind of kids that will continue to win long after wrestling is done.”
Gage, who entered the tournament with a 12-11 record, dominated her way to the final match. In the quarterfinals against Black Hill’s Madi Steinebach, she opened up a 13-0 lead through the first period behind three nearfalls and a takedown, and she sealed the win via pin in the third frame.
Gage then faced the far-and-away top seed in Ridgefield’s Nicolette Hulse, who had 12 more wins entering the tournament than any other 145-pound wrestler, in the quarterfinals. Gage made quick work of Hulse, pinning her with five seconds left in the opening period.
Then, in the finals, Gage dominated Washougal’s Madeline Rowe, scoring early points with a pair of takedowns before securing the winning pin in the second period.
Bortoletto, 110 pounds; sophomore Lucy Hornby, 115 pounds; and senior Yasmine Azcunaga advanced to the final match and each placed second in their respective divisions. Hornby, a district champion in 2025, medically forfeited in the finals against Centralia’s Eva Reinitz after earning pin victories in the quarters and semis.
Azcunaga upset R.A. Long’s Bailee Graff in the semis to advance to the finals, where she lost to R.A. Long’s Raileea Campbell.
Freshman Heather Thibault shined in the 105-pound division, bouncing back from a quarterfinal loss to earn three straight victories over three higher-seeded wrestlers en route to a third-place medal. In the third-place match, Thibault, now sporting a 14-12 record, knocked off 25-9 Daisy Vessey from Aberdeen via decision.
Sophomore Angelina Robinson flashed her potential in the 125-pound bracket, pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the day over Black Hills’ Averie Reynolds to advance to the semifinals. She lost in that round to eventual champion Lillian Hulegaard of Ridgefield before winning two straight to finish third. In the third-place match, Robinson defeated teammate Natalia Martinez, who also defeated Reynolds in the consolation semis and placed fourth.
W.F. West will send a whopping 14 wrestlers to the Mat Classic, and an impressive 12 Bearcats placed in the top four at districts. Outside of the aforementioned wrestlers, freshman Adela Castro, 100; sophomore Linden Varick, 110; senior Berkeley Varick, 120; sophomore Sierra Wood, 130; freshman Kya Homan, 135; and senior Gale Steiner, 140; will represent the Bearcats at the Tacoma Dome.
Black Hills will send 10 girls to state, including 100-pound freshman Presley, who wrestled for a total of two minutes and 25 seconds to breeze through the bracket. Junior Madeline Payne, who won a district title last year, came up short in the 155-pound finals to Ridgefield’s Casey Lehnertz via decision. After scoring an early takedown in the first period, Payne could only muster up one more point in the match due to a penalty, while a takedown by Lehnertz just before the final whistle secured the title.
Junior Lizzy Grunenfelder advanced to the semifinals before finishing third, and senior Isabella Chenard placed fourth. Freshman Grace Sandage, 105; freshman Yasmin Bautista-Sanchez, 110; junior Taylor Schimek, 125; Reynolds, 125; junior Wren Neklason, 130; and sophomore Madi Steinebach, 145; also qualified for state.
Tumwater saw all six of its wrestlers place in the top six and punch tickets to state. Humphries cruised past her competition in the 190-pound bracket, only reaching the second period in the finals against Washougal’s Angela Romero. But the final match wouldn’t see a third, as Humphries pinned her opponent.
Sophomore Vera Pope, 140, impressed on her way to a third-place finish. She bounced back from a quarterfinals loss to win four straight matches, all of which came via pin in under a minute. Sophomore Sayde Machado placed fourth at 100 pounds, senior Trinity Stricklett took fifth at 145, freshman Brooklyn Schenck earned sixth at 115, and senior Lexi Magnusson-Gossler took home sixth at 130.
