The calendar officially opened for Wawasee Wrestling on Saturday as the girls hit up Kendallville to take part in the East Noble Girls Invite.

Wawasee opened its second season of girls wrestling in style with a fourth-place finish at the East Noble Girls Invite. (Photo provided by Jamie Salazar)

Ten of our wrestlers suited up and went to work, with seven of them earning top three in their weight class to help Wawasee to a fourth-place finish among 30 teams on the ledger. Wawasee scored 132.5 points to trail just champion Rochester’s 175 points and the 164 points from both Jay County and North Miami, both finishing runner-up. The move up the charts was significant for Wawasee, which had exactly half the number of participants an finished 13th overall at East Noble in 2022.

A quartet of Lady Warriors were runner-up in their weight class, led by 4-1 days from Ciara Rodriguez at 120-123, Kenidi Nine at 139-141, and Alex Garcia at 148-152. Between the three, they had nine pins and a tech fall among their mat success.

Isabel Schwartz was also second in the 101-104 class, going 3-2 on the day with three pins.

Cyanna Leon and Karlee Clevenger both had three wins in their work to finish third, respectively, while Naviya Leon had two pins to finish third in her class. Dez Vetor was fourth and both Rylin Vanlaningham and Peyton Hohman also competed for Wawasee in the season lid lifter.

Wawasee girls get back to work in match play next Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Rochester Invite.