DeAragon earns All-American wrestling honor

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint wrestler Lily DeAragon went 4-2 in matches at 139 pounds, earning a fourth place finish and All-American honors at the recent Folkstyle Nationals wrestling tournament in Oklahoma.

DeAragon, a junior who practices with the Sandpoint High School team but does not compete, is used to dominating the competition at regional tournaments, and was thrilled to finally face some girls with similar wrestling chops.

The nationals featured more than 500 girls from all over the United States, and DeAragon was in a bracket with 21 girls, each of whom could wrestle.

“Lily had one of the largest brackets she has ever participated in,” said mom Pilar DeAragon. “It was nice to see that girls wrestling is taking off in other parts of the nation.”

DeAragon started the tourney with a tech fall win over the No. 2 seed from California, then beat her next two opponents, both from Texas. She suffered her first loss, a rarity for DeAragon, at the hands of a girl from North Carolina, who went on to win the tough bracket.

DeAragon bounced back to win her next match against an opponent from Texas, then faced another girl from California in her final match. With the score tied and both girls going strong, DeAragon took a shot, and while coming around to score got her head stuck and ended up losing.

“She had a fantastic run,” said Pilar. “She became an All-American again for the fourth time.”

DeAragon, who also runs track and plays soccer for the Bulldogs, has one more national tournament this year in Fargo, North Dakota in July. She will be training in Boise with team Suples and in Post Falls with Todd Foster, whose daughter also wrestles.