Girls return to mats for year two

The Carrington girls' wrestling program had certainly, to borrow a mixed sporting metaphor, punched above their weight class in their first season as a varsity sport.

The Cards ran the gauntlet of predominantly Class A-sized schools to earn a surprising state dual tournament berth at the East Region meet in their home gym, eventually finishing sixth at state, and placed 10th in the open-class individual tournament at the Fargodome last February.

Mark Pazdernik begins his second season at the helm of the program, and this time around, has a better grasp of how his girls can compete after largely being "thrown to the wolves" in the inaugural year.

Last season, the Cards had three seniors, two of whom ended up placing in the tournament. Lost to graduation were third-place finisher Kennedy Wendel (135 pounds), along with Trisa Schroeder (fifth place at 145, program-high 36 wins) and Chloe Hovdenes at 190. Also in 2022-23, Mercedes Lura placed sixth in the state tournament at 120 pounds.

A solid returning core for CHS could make waves once again, led by sophomore Khendra Garcia. Competing at 140, Garcia would take seventh in her first state tourney, and racked up a mark of 26-11.

Several others will hope to take the giant step towards the state podium. At 115 pounds, senior Kylie Skadberg had 27 wins on the mat against 15 defeats, and the additional expected point-scorers could include senior Karlee Lesmann (21-21 at 155) and sophomore Ashley Lindberg (21-17 at 250).

Junior Jazmyn Ybarra is aiming for a big season, having competed in several high-profile events where she was pitted against tough competition. This year, she will step into the full-time varsity lineup and has high expectations.

One wild card this season is the health of senior Taya Lura. An elbow injury kept her out of competition in the 2022-23 state tournament last year and much of the regular season, and Lura, who could be as responsible as anyone for the program's existence, is hoping to have something to show for her efforts in the lighter weights.

Returning wrestlers to the lineup also include junior Kendall Kovar, sophomores Juliet Davis and Nevaeh Sorenson, freshman Madalina Ciubotareanu, and eighth grader Kenzie Jost.

New wrestlers to the program are senior Maddalen Charles, junior Liubov Ivanova, sophomores Nela McKibben and Kelsi Neuman, and seventh graders Skarlet Ekren, Aysa Reimche, Jamisyn Schroeder and Adisyn VandeHoven.

Pazdernik and his girls' grapplers have been honing their craft this offseason. Both Garcia and Ybarra competed in the USA Cadet Nationals, and the Wrestling Club hosted a camp with clinician Macey Kilty, a world champion and five-time world medalist.

For this season, new weight class thresholds have been established, starting at 100 pounds, and then progressing to 106, 112, 118, 124, 130, 136, 142, 148, 155, 170, 190 and 250. That drops the overall class divisions from 14 to 13.

Pazdernik will be assisted this season by Karlee Griffin, who has experience on the mats from her youth years, along with returning assistant coach Kip Kovar.

The Cards got their season going this past Saturday, November 18, at the Minot Early Bird Tournament. They are scheduled to travel to Fargo on Tuesday, and will have nine days off before going to Napoleon for a tournament on Thursday, November 30.