Sometimes the box score doesn’t tell the real story.
This one does.
At the MTWOA – Middle Tennessee Wrestling Officials Association Grand Championships at Wilson Central High School, Blackman High School Girls Wrestling didn’t just compete — they imposed their style on a 53-team, 250-athlete battlefield.
Short-handed.
Injury-riddled.
Missing cornerstone stars.
And still standing 10th overall with 61.5 team points.
That finish wasn’t luck.
It was violence by efficiency.
NUMBERS DON’T LIE: BLACKMAN’S FINISHING POWER
Against the deepest field of the season, Blackman separated themselves with one defining trait:
They ended matches.
🔥 Most Pins – Least Time
- 12 total pins
- 26:15 total pin time
- 7th overall among 53 teams
⚙️ Pins + Tech Falls – Least Time
- 13 total bonus wins
- 30:15 total time
- 7th overall
Even more telling?
Blackman posted these numbers with fewer total wrestlers than most teams ahead of them — and without several top-tier starters.
This wasn’t volume.
This was efficiency.
JOY YOUNAN: BUILT FOR THE MOMENT
When the bracket turned unforgiving, Joy Younan turned lethal.
After a sudden-victory loss stalled her championship run, Younan detonated through the consolation bracket:
- Four straight falls
- Multiple pins under two minutes
- A 4–0 shutout in the 3rd-place match against a wrestler who had beaten her earlier that day
She didn’t just climb back — she kicked the door down.
🥉 3rd Place
📊 18.0 team points
🔥 One of the most dominant consolation runs of the tournament
PAYTON HOLZHEI: DAMAGE FROM START TO FINISH
At 120 pounds, Payton Holzhei brought a blend of pace and punishment that few could withstand.
- Opening-round 56-second pin
- 20–3 technical fall
- Two more falls in the placement rounds
- Closed the tournament with authority in the 5th-place match
🏅 5th Place
📊 17.5 team points
No wasted motion.
No wasted seconds.
LUN HOIH: EARLY FIRE, LATE FINISH
Lun Hoih burst into the tournament with back-to-back falls before battling nationally respected opposition. She finished the job with a 7th-place win, adding valuable team points in a packed middleweight bracket.
🏅 7th Place
📊 12.0 team points
KINZLEY JOHNSON: CONSOLATION GRIND QUEEN
Few wrestlers fought more matches or absorbed more grind than Kinzley Johnson.
After a quarterfinal setback, Johnson ripped off:
- Three straight consolation wins
- All by fall
- Including victories over Stewart’s Creek and Oakland
📊 10.0 team points
No podium.
Plenty of damage done.
JONNA PATTERSON: TOUGH BREAKS, TOUGHER DNA
Entering at 20–2, Jonna Patterson opened with a decisive fall before injuries forced medical forfeits that cut her run short.
📊 4.0 team points
Sometimes the fight ends before the will does.
THE CONTEXT THAT MATTERS MOST
Blackman accomplished all of this without:
- Kylnn McLean
- Skye Hancock
- Ali Bryant — returning 2× State Medalist
Against a field that crowned Clarksville, Rossview, and Collierville at the top, Blackman still finished inside the top 10, ahead of dozens of fully loaded rosters.
THE FINAL WORD
This wasn’t a perfect tournament.
It was a defiant one.
Blackman proved they don’t need ideal conditions to compete with the best — they just need mat space and time on the clock.
And judging by how fast they ended matches?
The rest of the state should be very glad this lineup wasn’t healthy.