The Washington Lady Lions took third place as a team at the Brown Brothers Girls Invitational at Jackson High School on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024. (Pictured, l-r); Head Coach Wes Gibbs, Janessa Ayler, Alicia Naverette, Abigail Forsythe, Kaylee Scott, Lyndyn Gibbs, Leah Marine, and assistant coach Marlin Ellis.
Courtesy photo
JACKSON — The Washington Lady Lion wrestling team traveled to Jackson on Sunday to compete in the Brown Brothers Girls Invitational.
The Lady Lions brought home third place as a team out of 47 teams, with only six girls competing. They missed the runner-up spot by a total of 1.5 points to Teays Valley.
Individual results for Washington:
At 105 pounds, Leah Marine took third and had a record of 4-1.
At 110 pounds, Abigail Forsythe placed fourth with a record of 2-2.
At 120 pounds, Alicia Naverette came in fourth and had a record of 3-2.
At 125 pounds, Lyndyn Gibbs was the champion going 5-0.
At 130 pounds, Kaylee Scott finished second with a record of 4-1.
At 170 pounds, Janessa Ayler placed sixth and went 1-4.
Lady Lion head coach Wes Gibbs shared some comments following the tournament.
“The last week we emphasized wrestling a full six minutes. It’s tough to do on a consistent basis, match in and match out. I feel like we turned a corner in that aspect this weekend. I think every one of the ladies had a close, six minute, tough match.
“Leah Marine was down three with seven or eight seconds left. The other girl locked hands and then tried to kick her and circle out the match. Leah stayed aggressive, pulling out the win 10-9.
“Abigail Forsythe won a close 4-1 match against a really good young lady from Shenandoah. She stayed in the fight and pulled out a close win. These close matches are why we need to see where we are before the sub-region and the regional.
“Kaylee Scott went to 130 pounds this week. We wanted to see how it went with some movement. She placed second and won a few matches against some state qualifiers.
“Alicia Naverette pulled off an upset, winning her pool. Her only losses were from girls inside the top 10 in the state rankings.
“Lyndyn went to 125 pounds this week, going 5-0 all by bonus point wins. She’s 28-0 now, that’s hard to do at the caliber of tournaments we’ve been going to.
“Janessa Ayler had a good day. She placed sixth. Janessa had one of those tough six minute matches down to the wire as well.”
He finished, “We are just preparing for March. Everything we are doing right now is just practice. I feel like these girls are locked in and focusing on the right things.”
At the junior high level, the Lady Lions had Abigail Huff and Akira Wilson in competition.
This was their first all-girls meet of the season.
Huff placed fourth and Wilson took second.
“These girls have been battling with the boys here lately and their hard work showed off today,” said Gibbs. “They are preparing for junior high state tournament runs as well.”
Washington will compete again on Saturday, Jan. 27 in the Lady Dragon tournament at West Union High School.
