TACOMA — Ephrata's Adylene Sanchez arrived at the Tacoma Dome as a defending state champion. She departed the Dome by writing her name into the Tigers' record book.

On Friday and Saturday, Sanchez pinned all four opponents in the 2A ranks at Mat Classic XXXVII to claim the 155-pound title, becoming the first two-time state wrestling champion in Ephrata girls program history. In doing so, Sanchez helped lead the Lady Tigers to a fourth-place finish overall with 120 points — resulting in the program's first-ever state team trophy — surprising their coach.

"Never thought we'd be back with a team trophy," said Ephrata girls head coach Raul Tejeda.

Ephrata's other top placers were Carolina Monico, who took third at 235 pounds, and Alexandra Estrada Rangel (130) and Tessa Hausken (190), both finishing fourth.

The Central Washington Athletic Conference was well represented in the final team scoring. Among 49 schools, the CWAC's Toppenish won the team title with 297 points, followed by runnerup Othello (184.5) and Ephrata in fourth place. W.F. West took third overall with a 141.5 total.

In Saturday's championship match, Sanchez faced off against Hailee Orgill of Deer Park. Trailing 4-3 with 11 seconds remaining in the final period, the Tiger senior rallied to pin Orgill and capture her second state title.

It was the third meeting between Sanchez and Orgill this season. Orgill took the first, a 4-2 decision in the 155 championship at the Winter Cup in Richland on Dec. 30. Four days later in Spokane, Sanchez pinned the Deer Park standout at 3:35 in the first-place match at the Lady M2 Mallet tournament.

When the Tacoma Dome bracket paired them yet again, Sanchez felt surprisingly calm.

"We went into the state tournament one-one," Sanchez said. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to wrestle her in the finals because I knew that match could go either way. Although, when I found out it was going to be her and I in the finals, all of my nerves went away. I tried to talk myself through it beforehand, planning out what I was going to do during that match."

Tejeda said Sanchez's ability to bounce back from that initial Winter Cup loss with back-to-back victories spoke volumes about her competitive spirit.

"It was hard for (Adylene), but she didn't let that get to her," said the Ephrata coach. "She learned from her mistakes, worked on them, made some adjustments. That helped her come home with the title."

Sanchez wrapped up her prep wrestling career at Ephrata with more than 100 wins. The four pins at state elevated her season record to 39-6 with 35 of those wins coming by fall.

She opened the Mat Classic tourney on Friday with a pin over Darla Perry of Ellensburg in 1:06, then needed just 57 seconds to put away Bryelle Wopperer of Port Angeles in the quarterfinals. In the semis on Saturday, Sanchez battled until 5:11 in the third period before pinning Tairen Lee of Orting.

Among her Tiger teammates, Monico opened her bracket with first-period pins of Makenzie Reynolds of Deer Park and Entarina Herwin of Hudson's Bay before dropping a 4:39 fall in the semifinals to Charlene Underwood of Toppenish. The loss sent Monico to the consolation side, where she survived a tight 9-7 decision over Irene Mose of Orting to reach the third-place match. There, she pinned Entarina's older sister Youtarina Herwin, also of Hudson's Bay, in 3:47 to claim the bronze. Monico finished the season 32-11.

Monico and Underwood first met in the Winter Cup championship in Richland in December, where Monico held a 2-0 lead entering the third period before Underwood's reversal and a stalling penalty gave her the 3-2 decision. At state, Underwood pinned her in the semifinals, but Monico responded with back-to-back wins to reach the podium.

Estrada Rangel's tournament ended against a familiar opponent, Angie Monday of Othello, who had beaten her a week earlier in the district championship. In a quarterfinal rematch at state, Estrada Rangel flipped it with a 4-2 win. But the two met again in the match for third- and fourth-place. That belonged to Monday, who controlled from the start enroute to a 4-0 decision.

Estrada Rangel closed her senior season with a 35-11 record and more than 100 career wins.

Hausken, seeded ninth entering the state tournament, went 4-2 at 190 pounds for the Tigers' other fourth-place finish. She opened with a pin, but dropped a quarterfinal round to Tatiana Tovar of Grandview — the same result as the district championship match a week earlier. But Hausken responded by winning three straight, including a pair of pins of Olivia Schlosser of West Valley (Spokane) and Aspen Hellickson of Clarkston. In thrilling bout for third and fourth place, she was edged, 15-13, in the final seconds by Makenna Brower of Ridgefield. Hausken finished her senior season at 30-15.

Also competing at state for Ephrata were Natalin Abundiz (115), Kashlynn Cobb (135), Addison Vasquez (135), Meraly Carrillo Cazarez (140), Rayn Castillo (140) and Gabbie Grace Bafus (170). Abundiz reached the quarterfinals before a tournament injury ended her weekend. Results can be found below.

Tejeda said the Tigers' collective efforts exceeded his expectations.

"We knew we had a solid team but it was gonna be hard for some of them. They had some tough girls in their brackets," the coach said. "I believe some could have placed a little higher, but overall we're happy with how they all performed."

In other honors, Sanchez was just named the CWAC's Upper Division Wrestler of the Year along with being a first-team all-league selection, while the Tigers' Raul Tejeda will share the CWAC Coach of the Year award with Mark Kondo of Quincy. Also for Ephrata, Hausken and Monico earned second-team all-league recognition, and Estrada Rangel, Cobb and Castillo were honorable mention selections.

For Sanchez, a second state title concluded the journey she began as a complete novice four years earlier.

"I started with nothing," she said. "I started my four years with no prior experience, I didn't even know what a stance was. My freshman year, I qualified for state. Even though I didn't win any matches that year, it helped me see potential in myself. I started to wrestle during the off season to try and improve, because I knew I wanted to be at the top of the podium one day."

She climbed there twice.