Wallace, Johansen impress at Idaho Girls Wresting Finals

POCATELLO — Girls wrestling at Sandpoint is officially on the map after a pair of Bulldogs took home top finishes at the second annual Idaho Girls Wrestling Finals on Saturday in Pocatello.

Senior Heather Wallace captured first at 120 pounds and sophomore Kayelin Johansen (KJ) tied for third at 106.

The duo represented Sandpoint at the unofficial state championship for girls wrestling.

Head coach Jake Stark was there and he said coaches and fans at the event kept coming up to him and asking him about Wallace and Johansen because they were all blown away by their performances.

“I’m on cloud nine,” Stark said after the event. “I’m super proud of them.”

Stark said the environment was intense and girls from across the state were cheering each other on in every bout. It was an experience he won’t forget.

“It was fun to be apart of this,” he said.

Wallace crushed the competition en route to a title at 120 pounds. Wallace won her quarterfinal, semifinal and first place match all by pin.

Coming in Wallace was just looking to enjoy competing in her first all-girls tournament, but she did much more than that by dominating her weight class.

Stark said he knows the entire team would have gone crazy if they were there to cheer Wallace on to victory.

“If they were all here our crowd would have just erupted because she was on fire today,” he said about Wallace. “She was just determined. You can tell in a wrestlers’ eyes if they got it or not and she had it today.”

Johansen had a strong showing at the tourney as well. She opened the event with a victory by pin but then fell by pin with 43 seconds remaining in her quarterfinal match.

With her back against the wall, Johansen reeled off three straight wins by pin to make it to the third place match. Unfortunately, Johansen and her opponent in the match, Ridgevue’s Perla Alvarado, both reached their match limit at the event so it was ruled a no contest and she finished in a tie for third.

Johansen was hoping to finish in the top three heading into the tourney after taking fourth last year and she did just that. Now she has two more years to claim the title.

Stark said Sandpoint’s feeder program, Top Dog Wrestling, has plenty of talented girls on it and they will certainly look up to Wallace and Johansen as they work their way up to the high school level.

“It’s a huge inspiration,” Stark said. “They’re kind of paving the way saying hey the opportunity is out there, wrestling is growing for girls and they can do it. It’s motivation for them.”

There is no state tournament for girls wrestling sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association but with the rise in participation over the past few years its only a matter of time before Idaho starts crowning girls state champs thanks in large part to athletes like Wallace and Johansen.