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TACOMA -- The Tacoma Dome may be one of the few places this weekend where an absolute stranger can walk up to a girl, tell her she needs to drop a few pounds and not get slapped.
Cross-faced, maybe, but not slapped.
Washington's girls state tournament has reached full legitimacy in its third year as a WIAA-sanctioned event: 16-girl brackets instead of eight or 12, four dedicated mats rather than two and whatever empty mat could be found.
Indeed, the girls have passed up the 2B/1B boys and their eight-man brackets as far as Mat Classic prominence.
"It feels like an actual tournament," said Kiona-Benton sophomore Sheridan McDonald, who opened her 135-pound title defense with a first-period pin. "Last year we had byes."
River View senior Sam Beckwith, a runner-up last year at 112 pounds, said she also can feel a difference in the tournament this year.
"It's not a guy's sport anymore," she said after a 16-0 technical fall in her 103-pound opener, her first-ever tech fall.
Mat Classic added a girls exhibition tournament in 2003 and drew 58 wrestlers. Last year's tournament had 108 participants. This year, there are 174.
Nearly 600 girls took part in regional tournaments last weekend. Washington, Texas and Hawaii have been the only states to sanction high school girls tournaments. However, Tennessee is holding a state invitational this weekend (similar to the exhibition Washington started with), and Maine has one set for next week.
Of the 13 girls that Mid-Columbia schools sent to state, seven will place. McDonald is the only one to reach the semifinals. Beckwith bounced back from her quarterfinal loss with her second tech fall, 15-0.
Grade A champs: Starting the tournament with just three state competitors, Richland never had a shot of getting within shouting distance of a team trophy. But the Bombers won't go home empty handed, having won the 4A scholastic state championship with a 3.354 GPA.
"We have a really good group of kids," said coach Scott Surplus, adding that most of the kids spend a half hour doing homework between the time school lets out at 2:30 p.m. and practice starts.
Interestingly, Richland didn't have anyone on the Academic All-State 4A team, while Mead placed six. Othello's Jake Smith (3.86 GPA) is on the 2A team; Royal's Roman Trujillo (3.63) and Angel Ledezma (3.67) are on the 1A, and Beckwith (3.87) was named to the girls team.
Technically sound: With a state championship and All-America status already secured, Sunnyside's Steven Romero just didn't have a whole lot to prove during his senior season.
So he took a look through the Grizzlies' prestigious record books.
"I already had the most pins, and I wanted to beat another record," he said. "I told myself, just do techs."
He did, 18 of them so far (including one in the state quarterfinals) along with 66 near falls and counting, eclipsing the marks set by two-time state champ Steve Sanchez in 2006.
"I wanted to work more on moves instead of just pinning in the first period," said Romero, who is 38-0 and back in the state semifinals.
Been there, not done that: Most wrestling pundits are keeping one eye on the 2A bracket and Jimmy Belleville of Black Hills, trying to become the state's fifth four-time champion. Five others are on the cusp of joining the three-timers club.
At the other end of the spectrum are Michael Turner of Auburn Riverside and Jordan Flynn of Steilacoom, the only wrestlers here who are competing in their fourth state tournament without having placed.
Neither has ever stuck around for Day 2 ... until now. Turner won a close 8-6 decision to reach the 119 semifinals in the 4As. Flynn split his first two matches and, in one of the last bouts of the night, managed to stay alive to earn a medal as well.
