Lakes Wrestling: Freshman Kiaya Van Scoyoc Captures District Crown

Being undefeated puts a target on your back. They want to be the first person to take you down, but Lakes freshman Kiaya Van Scoyoc wasn't having it.

The 160-pound freshman — ranked second in the state according to washingtonwrestlingreport.com — entered the regional 2 competition at Shelton Middle School on Saturday with an unblemished record of 27-0. Her wrestling coach, Trisha Pak, said her matches have lasted an average of 14 seconds.

All three of her opponents — including Highline sophomore Nicole Maipi in the regional championship — never made it out of the second round. Two of them never went further than 15 seconds, and Van Scoyoc won by injury default with 1 minute, 46 seconds in the opening round to capture the regional title and the top seed to the Mat Classic state wrestling tournament, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.

She enters the state event with a record of 31-0.

"I'm so excited for state," Van Scoyoc said.

After dominating nearly every opponent leading up to the regional contest, she faced serious adversity after making a mistake against Enumclaw's Danielle Cromier. In first round of the semifinal match, Cromier nearly pinned her and led 4-2. On her back, Van Scoyoc remained calm, wiggled out near the outer circle and escaped defeat.

"That match was so scary," Van Scoyoc said. "I went in there thinking I had the match made and I was going to take first. Then I get in the match and she’s left-handed and that really threw me off. I wrestled her before but this time it was different. At one point she had me on my back and I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh this wasn’t good.'"

She recovered and pinned Cromier in 2:30.

The only Lakes girl there, she relied on her family, coach and a friend on the team to stay focused until the championship round. And when it finally came, Maipi injured her shoulder when Van Scoyoc tried to throw her to the ground. The match was over in 14 seconds.

Pak said it's been a long and tough season but the work has paid off.

"She's poured her heart and soul into this sport and she's come out on top," Pak said. "We're looking forward to seeing how she does this weekend. We were a little disappointed that the championship match at regional ended the way it did. We were looking to have her wrestle the whole match and get some learning out of it."

Pak said Van Scoyoc's dominant, right shoulder was sore throughout the regional contest because of a slight injury during practice. Van Scoyoc told Pak she wasn't going to forfeit the regional championship, although competing would risk further injury leading up to the state tournament.

That's what heart and soul will do for you.