The News Tribune’s 2024 Untouchables — the state’s most unbeatable high school wrestlers
Some wrestlers are good, others are great. Then there are the “Untouchables.”
These are the most unbeatable high school wrestlers from around the state, which The News Tribune has published annually before the state wrestling championships for more than 30 years running.
This year’s class includes 11 wrestlers. Nine are competing for their third consecutive Mat Classic titles this weekend at the Tacoma Dome. All 11 are defending state champions.
RUBY CLARK (140)
Toppenish (1A), senior, 31-1
Clark reached the podium in her first Mat Classic appearance back in 2022 as a sophomore, earning a fourth-place finish, then returned to the Tacoma Dome in 2023 and swept the competition on the way to a 2A/1A/2B/1B Girls title at 140 — pinning all three of her opponents. Clark, who won Pac Coast (145) and Gut Check (140) titles back in December, is again a headliner for a Toppenish group looking to win a third consecutive team title, and is one of four returning individual state champions for the Wildcats this weekend. “She’s our most dominant wrestler right now,” Toppenish coach Pepe Segovia said. Clark has a 31-1 record this season, including a 2A/1A/2B/1B Girls Region 3 championship, and enters her final Mat Classic with a career record of 112-10. “She’s always determined to win,” Segovia said.
QUENTIN HARDING (138)
Orting (2A), junior, 28-3
Orting appears well on the way to a third consecutive 2A team title this weekend, paced by six defending individual champions, including Harding. The Cardinals junior is one of four Orting wrestlers who has won back-to-back state titles the past two seasons, sweeping the 2A 113-pound bracket as a freshman in 2022, then the 126-pound bracket in the Tacoma Dome last winter. Harding has a “really high mat IQ” and “uses his length really well,” Cardinals coach Jody Coleman said, and has posted a 28-3 record so far this season. “He has a really big wrestling toolbox,” Coleman said. “He wrestles a lot.” Harding won a Tri-State championship in December, a week after placing second at the Mid America Nationals in Oklahoma. “He doesn’t get rattled, no matter who he’s wrestling,” Coleman said. “He just goes out there prepared.” This year’s 2A Region 2 champion, Harding enters the weekend with a 101-10 record in his career with the Cardinals.
Lars Michaelson (190)
Bremerton (2A), senior, 37-2
Michaelson was already dominant enough as a junior. Since then, he grew a couple inches and added some weight to his frame. “He still has the speed of a light wrestler,” said Bremerton coach Ty Michaelson, Lars’ dad. “He’s very quick for his size. He’s in a different weight class where the kids aren’t as quick.” Michaelson, a two-time Mat Classic champion, is a master of deception. “He’s really good with his fakes,” Ty Michaelson said. “He sells his fakes really well. His positioning, he’s got tremendous positioning on his feet. He’s quick and likes to create angles.” Holds a 118-4 career record and 37-2 overall record this season. Michaelson took fifth place at the US Open last spring in Las Vegas. Stanford wrestling commit.
CODY MILLER (157)
Sumner (4A), senior, 51-0
139 wrestlers have attempted what continues to prove impossible: take down Sumner’s Cody Miller. All 139 have failed, and Miller, a 157-pound senior, would complete an undefeated high-school career with a third state title this weekend. “He’s always strategic,” Spartans head coach Matt Harshman said. “I call him a very-cerebral type of wrestler. He has that plan, and he knows what will work, and he executes his plan very well.” Most opponents fear Miller. They avoid him, and he senses it. “Especially this year, with my name being known pretty well,” Miller told The News Tribune. “A lot of really good wrestlers have been wrestling me to lose by less, rather than to win. When they’re wrestling me, they don’t wrestle their normal game. I definitely see that right away, and I try to make what little fear they have explode and become a reality.” Two-time Mat Classic state champion.
ASHLEY NARANJO (110)
Moses Lake (4A), senior, 41-0
Naranjo has steamrolled through every opponent she has faced this season. The two-time Mat Classic state champion has not lost an in-state match in her high school career. “She really demands perfection from herself,” said Moses Lake coach David Peralez. Naranjo is a master of chain wrestling, onto the next move before opponents know what hit them. “It’s just her flow,” Peralez said. “She doesn’t force anything, she takes what’s there. One thing to the next, to the next. …She’s good at making wrestlers feel like they’re making the right decision. She almost lulls them into a false sense of security. Then she’s right there, chaining off another series.” Naranjo has a career record of 107-0. “It’s awesome to see that history being made in a town like Moses Lake.”
CZAR QUINTANILLA (113)
University (3A), sophomore, 38-3
The youngest of four brothers who were all star wrestlers, Quintanilla has plenty of family experience to lean on. “I think it’s a huge deal. The tradition within the family of being great competitors, winning matches,” said University coach Ryan Montang. “It can’t hurt, that’s for sure.” Quintanilla spends time year-round on the mat, never one to back down from a challenge. “I coached (Quintanilla’s older brother Q’Veli),” Montang said. “Both of those guys are extremely fast, quick and can go from one thing to another. They chain. They never stop wrestling.”
LIBBY ROBERTS (105)
University (3A), junior, 27-1
She has spent her high school career competing against — and beating — the boys in most matches, and this year has been no exception. University’s ruthless wrestler never backs down. “The amount of courage she displays, I think is pretty impressive,” said University coach Ryan Montang, who helps on the girls side with Kevin Roberts, Libby’s dad. “She’s a girl going out and wrestling returning (boys) state finalists, state placers all the time. I am fully convinced that she’s never feared a single opponent she’s stepped on the mat with. She always expects to win. That level of courage is hard to find.” On the mat, she’s relentless, competitive — the total package. “She’s pretty darn good,” Montang said. “She’s good from every position, really good from her feet. She moves people really well, gets people going in one direction and then can go another way to score.” Two-time Mat Classic state champion, a USA Wrestling All-American, Walsh Women’s Ironman 2023 champion, Braided 64 champion and more. With wins this year and next, she would become the state’s fifth four-time girls state champion.
A.J. SALGUERO (126)
Orting (2A), junior, 17-0
One of four returning two-time state champions, and one of six defending for the Cardinals — who are also seeking a third consecutive 2A team title — at the Tacoma Dome this weekend, Salguero is looking for another Mat Classic sweep. He bested each of his four opponents in the 2A 106-pound bracket on the way to his first individual title as a freshman in 2022, and another four opponents for the 2A title at 120 last winter. “I think he’s really comfortable in those big moments,” Coleman said. “He’s done a lot of big tournaments outside of the state. He just seems cool and collected and relaxed there.” Salguero has missed much of the winter season due to injury, but hasn’t lost when he has wrestled, and has posted a 17-0 record including a 2A Region 2 championship last weekend. “He didn’t really get to get on the mat until January, but he’s had a pretty dominant year,” Coleman said. Salguero has a career record of 80-3.
FAITH TARRANT (235)
Prairie (3A), junior, 28-0
Just how dominant has Tarrant been lately? She won all her 32 matches by pin last year, including the 235-pound state championship match at last year’s Mat Classic XXXIV at the Tacoma Dome. This year, all 28 of her wins have come by pin, again. “It’s very unique, obviously,” said Prairie coach Rob Smith. “You don’t ever see something like that. … She’s got a lot of different technique. She just does her job.” Size, speed, strength — Tarrant is the total package. A fun-loving, family-oriented person off the mat, Tarrant flips a switch when the lights come on. “She can throw, she can get takedowns,” Smith said. “She rides tough on top, gets off the bottom easy. … She is quick for heavyweight. She’s very agile, has great hips. She can move from side to side quickly and efficiently. … She’s an incredible person. Great, bubbly personality.”
MARCOS TORREZ (150)
Toppenish (1A), senior, 43-4
Torrez won the 1A 132-pound bracket in his first Mat Classic appearance as a sophomore in 2022, then the 138-pound bracket as a junior last winter, and is ready to make a run for a third title in the Tacoma Dome this weekend. He’s already posted an impressive senior season, winning Pac Coast (144) and Gut Check (144) titles in December, and reaching the semifinals at the Reno Tournament of Champions (138) in December and quarterfinals at the Doc Buchanan Invitational (141) in California last month. Torrez is 43-4 so far this season, including last week’s 1A Region 3 title. “He’s all gas and no brakes,” Segovia said. “ … The whistle blows and he sets the pace from start to finish, and he dictates where that match is going to go, and what pace it’s going to go at.” What’s made Torrez such a tough opponent throughout his career with the Wildcats? “Cardio, and he’s a great technician,” Segovia said. “He’s flashy, but not too flashy, with a lot of technique in there. It just makes him hard to beat.” Torrez has a 126-14 career record at Toppenish, and he’s 126-1 against in-state opponents. He also leads a Toppenish group that returns seven individual state champions, and is looking to win a fifth consecutive team title in the Tacoma Dome. “He’s a great leader in the room,” Segovia said. “He motivates others to get better.”
CLARISSA WANGEN (155)
Curtis (4A), senior, 36-0
The past two seasons, Wangen has not only swept her eight opponents in the Tacoma Dome on the way to back-to-back Mat Classic championships — she’s also won six of those matches by pin. “She’s just relentless,” Curtis coach Moki Yoshikawa said. “Just grinds her opponent down.” Wangen made her first Mat Classic appearance in 2022 as a sophomore, winning her bracket at 145 with a pin, and added another title by pin in 2023 as a junior at 155. Only two of her state tournament matches have been decided by decision — and she shut out her opponent in both. She enters her final Mat Classic with a perfect 36-0 record this winter, including Pac Coast and Gut Check titles in December, and a 4A/3A Girls Region 3 championship last week. She is 104-3 in her career at Curtis. Wangen’s twin sister, Sierra, is also a defending state champion, pinning all four opponents last season on the way to a title at 130. The Vikings, who are also looking to contend for the 4A/3A team title, return three individual champions from last winter.
TNT sports reporter Tyler Wicke contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 16, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
