In her first trip to the Fargodome for the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals, Zaylyn Woods treated it like another tournament.
That mindset paid off for the Azle standout, who took home 5th place in the 16U 130-pound bracket earlier this month in Fargo, North Dakota.
“It was what I thought it was going to be like, a big arena, lots of pressure and just wanting to be your best because it’s the biggest high school tournament,” she said. “You could feel everyone was there for one reason … they all wanted to win.”
Woods, a UIL 5A champion at 130 pounds as a freshman last year, won her first four matches at Fargo.
She won the first two by the same score, 10-0, and in a unique twist — both matches ended at the 1:52 mark. Woods then pinned Gabriella Frankian from New York.
In the quarterfinals, Woods secured an 11-4 win against Corablla Wesley from Hobart, Indiana. She was the Indianapolis Star girls wrestler of the year after going 42-0 and winning the 125-pound title. She was also the 16U Folkstyle national champion.
“I’m proud of how I did in my quarters match because that was a good girl,” Woods said. “I thought I stuck to my game plan and went out there and did the best I could.”
In the semifinals, Woods suffered a one-point loss to Anastasia Rodnikova from Illinois — though she wrestles for Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania. Rodnikova won 11-10, scoring the go-ahead point with 16 seconds left. Woods got two at the buzzer to pull within a point.
Woods said that was one match she wishes she could’ve done better, after being tied at 8-8 with less than a minute to go. Rodnikova took second in the bracket.
Woods lost a second straight in the consolation semifinals, falling to Gail Sullivan from New York, 10-6. Sullivan led 5-0 after the first period, but Woods got four points early in the second to make it close.
Sullivan took second at the NewYork High School State Championship in February and took third at Fargo.
Woods ended on a high note, winning by an 8-4 decision against Finley Evjen from South Dakota in the fifth-place match.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” she said. “We’ve trained all year for that, so it was great.”
She was one of two Azle girls wrestlers to bring home a Fargo All-American honor. Teammate Noah Kovach, in the junior bracket, took eighth.
The two trained together throughout most of the offseason.
