Lady Pointers make history - two wrestlers win inaugural Arkansas girls state wrestling tourney - Van Buren High School | Van Buren High School (Van Buren, AR) Athletics

A pair of Van Buren wrestlers were part of a historic event on Thursday. Both Violet Summers and Addison Loney won their respective weight classes as part of the inaugural Arkansas Girls State Tournament, held in Little Rock at the Jack Stephens Center. Summers was the champion in the 100-pound class, while Loney claimed the gold medal in the 140 class. “I just think my two state champions were my two girls that were on my varsity boys team last year, so them just having that experience (helped),” Van Buren coach John Petree said. A sophomore, Summers became the first female wrestler to win a state title at the first-ever state sanctioned wrestling state tournament for girls. However, she won her finals match via a disqualification as her opponent, Conway freshman Abigail Crawford, was disqualified after having bit Summers’ arm. “To be honest, I watched the video probably 10 times and I can’t tell you the pinpoint when she got bit,” Petree said. “But when the ref blew the whistle, she stood up and said, ‘She bit me,’ and sure enough, there were bite marks on top and bottom on her arm. “I think we were down 6-3 or 6-4 (before the incident happened), and we were on bottom and we got to wrestling and the next thing you know, they were stopping the match and Violet was showing me her arm; she had bite marks on it.” Before making it to the finals, Summers won her first three matches at state via pinfall. She won her opening-round match in a time of 1:14, her quarterfinal in 2:32 and her semifinal in just 42 seconds. Summers finished her season with a record of 20-1. “She was pretty excited (about winning state) and I’m happy for her,” Petree said. “She wrestled good all year and pretty proud of her.” Loney, a sophomore, won her state title in the 140 after pinning Mountain Home senior Trinity Willett in a time of 1:10. “Addison wrestled lights out,” Petree said. “She had a pretty tough path; she had a Searcy kid in the semis that was super-tough and had only lost a couple of matches all year and we go out there and pin her. “Then in the finals match, she had (Willett) who was real athletic and we just take her down and pin her.” Loney, who finished her season 22-1, won all four of her matches at state by pinfall. She won the opening round in 1:10, her quarterfinal in 1:35 and her semifinal in exactly a minute. The Lady Pointers also had two other wrestlers medal, as freshman Lillian Jones finished sixth in the 108 class and senior Kelseigh Archer was sixth in the 185. Northside’s Lady Bears had two wrestlers medal. Gabriela Perez, a senior, finished fourth in the 185 while freshman Stephanie Delgado placed sixth in the 132. Searcy won the team championship, with Mountain Home coming in second. Van Buren finished sixth while Northside placed ninth. On Friday, the state wrestling tournament for the boys gets under way at the Jack Stephens Center and will continue on Saturday, with the championship matches starting Saturday afternoon at approximately 3:30 p.m.

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LADY POINTERS MAKE HISTORY - TWO WRESTLERS WIN INAUGURAL ARKANSAS GIRLS STATE WRESTLING TOURNEY

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Times Record | 2/21/2020

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford