Carson High’s Ellah Olson reacts after winning the girls 152-pound state title Saturday in Winnemucca. Olson became the first Carson High girls wrestler to win a state title.
Photo by Thomas Ranson.
For Carson High’s Ellah Olson, Saturday’s state tournament represented a chance to become the first Senator girls wrestler to win a state title.
Olson went 3-0 to accomplish that feat, capping the title match with a 5-2 decision over Clark’s Petra Stewart at 152 pounds.
“It was at the beginning of the third period when I had the choice of what position I wanted,” said Olson. “I knew basically I could just finish the match and make it so she couldn’t score another point.”
The senior said she could hear support coming from not just Carson fans, but Northern Nevada wrestling fans as well.
Olson added that the toughest part of her state tournament was figuring out exactly what she should expect from wrestlers she hadn’t seen before.
“The most challenging was the question of what the south’s wrestling style was. It was hard to find information on the south wrestlers,” said Olson.
Olson’s semifinal bout was against McQueen’s Jaclyn Daley, who Olson defeated by a 1-0 margin.
“I knew people from the North had plans for wrestling me,” said Olson. “I could tell that they had a good plan to try to stop what I was able to do.”
Her first match ended with a pin in 2:10, getting any potential state-tournament jitters out of the way.
The environment of the finals, as well as winning a state title, will be the sweetest memory of her high school wrestling career.
“This will be the top of it,” Olson said. “All of the Carson families stuck around and watched.”
“She looked in command of the bracket the entire time,” said Carson High coach Nick Redwine. “It’s pretty awesome. I got another state champ hug. I have another name on the wall in the wrestling room.”
(Ellah Olson stands with the bracket in hand at the top of the podium with coach Nick Redwine after winning a state title at 152 pounds. / Courtesy Carson High wrestling)
Senator boys conclude season at state
The competition level rises exponentially at the boys state tournament, especially among Class 5A.
Though the Carson boys didn’t leave with anyone on the podium, Redwine was pleased with their performances given the routes his grapplers were forced to take.
“We had a couple of really tough draws. We wrestled pretty tough. There were a few matches we probably could’ve pulled out, but just came up short,” said Redwine.
At 106 pounds, Jesse Oliva had three wins in the tournament — including two in overtime — to make it to the consolation semifinals before getting eliminated.
Lucas Wold also advanced to the consolation semifinals behind a pair of pins and a win by tech fall at 126 pounds.
JT Heaton’s lone win of the state meet came in just 39 seconds after pinning Basic’s Michael Kim.