CLARKSVILLE, TN – Tennessee sent 19 girls to NHSCA Wrestling Nationals in Virginia Beach, and three of them are coming home with All-American honors, two of them from the Clarksville area. Both West Creek’s Mariana Bowen and Northwest’s Sally Johnson took 4th place at the prestigious event, while three local Tennessee teammates also reached the top 12 round.
Thousands of the best wrestlers from all over the country converged at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach over the weekend and the top eight in each weight class were awarded All-American honors. When it was over, Bowen and Johnson were on the podium after three days of tough matches.
132-pound Bowen started with four straight pins over opponents from South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Florida before falling to #1 seed Lauren Walton of Kentucky in the quarterfinals, the #1 seed at the event and the #7 ranked high school wrestler in the country. In the consolation rounds, Bowen beat #18 ranked Ciara Riner of West Virginia before coming up short in the 3rd place match to California’s Christina Osorio 14-3. Bowen came into the event ranked #24 in the country in USA Wrestling’s high school rankings. She is a two-time Tennessee state champion.
145-pound Johnson beat a New York opponent by fall to start her tournament, then won again 10-3 in the second round over Massachusetts’ Shelby Galex to advance to the quarters on Day 2. In that match, Johnson continued her winning ways with a fall over another New York opponent, America Figueras, to advance to the semis and crack the top 8. Johnson fell in the semis to yet another New York opponent and was sent to the consi bracket. On the backside, the Northwest wrestler pinned Ohio’s Jesse Foebar to advance to the 3rd place match where she lost to the #1 seed Katherine Stewart of Florida 12-0, an opponent who’d been upset on the championship side of the bracket. Johnson’s feat is on the heels of placing 3rd a few weeks ago in Iowa in the 16U division at USA Wrestling’s High School Folkstyle Nationals. Johnson was the regional champion and 2nd at Tennessee State Championships this season.
The third All-American from Tennessee was Cleveland’s Senna Grassman, who also took 4th place.
Local wrestlers Lexi Dean of West Creek (120), Audrey Levendusky of Montgomery Central (138), and Gianna Nikolao of Kirkwood (145) all reached the Round of 12 at the event, also called “the blood round” in the wrestling community, which is one match away from the top 8. Dean went 4-2 at the event with 3 pins, two-time Tennessee state champion Levendusky went 3-2 with 2 pins, and Nikolao was also 3-2 with 2 pins.