Submitted by The Evergreen State College
The Evergreen State College won four individual championships while hosting the Evergreen Open on Sunday, Jan. 18 at the Costantino Recreation Center. Champions from Evergreen were Haley Le (Fr.) in the 138-pound weight class, Nizhoni Tallman (Sr.) in the 110-pound weight class, Ellabelle Taylor (Jr.) in the 124-pound weight class, and Viktoriya Dovhoruka (Jr.) in the 180-pound weight class. In addition, Shannon Workinger (Sr.) of Evergreen placed second in the 160-pound weight class.
Le started the day with a bye and then edged past unattached wrestler Jade Trolland in the second round. Le and Troland were tied 6-6, but Le won on criteria. In the quarterfinals, Le won with a 10-0 technical fall against Anaka Chartrand from Simon Fraser University (B.C., Canada). Le added a fall at 4:13 in the semifinals against unattached competitor Tatum Pine. In the championship match at 138 pounds, Le pinned Audrey Diaz of Pacific University (Ore.) at 4:24.
At 110 pounds, Tallman opened with a bye. She won by a technical fall on a score of 10-0 against Yadira Covarrubias from Washington State University in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Tallman added another technical fall, as she downed Taylen Babas-Masuno from Pacific 12-1. Tallman won the championship match 10-0 on a technical fall against Mariah Hinojosa.
Taylor won a 10-0 technical fall versus Amelia Sullens of Pacific in the quarterfinals at 124 pounds. Taylor earned a pin at 1:46 in the semifinals against Adelina Valencia, who competed unattached. In the title match, Taylor won by fall at 4:11 against Felicia Bell from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
In the 180-pound weight class, Dovhoruka of Evergreen pinned unattached wrestler Olivia Chapman 1:31 into their first round match. In the quarterfinals, Dovhoruka shut out Sialafua Polamalu of Southern Oregon University 9-0. In the semis, Dovhoruka gained a technical fall with a 10-0 score against Alyssia Grose. Dovhoruka took first place on a pin with 15 seconds left in the championship match versus Wyvonnie Fletcher from UNLV.
Workinger opened at 160 pounds with a fall at the 2:10 mark against Belen Lopez of Simon Fraser, then defeated Nehemiah Cook of Pacific with a 10-0 technical fall in the quarterfinals. Workinger outscored Quilaztli Miguel-Lapham from Southern Oregon University 6-0. Due to an injury, Workinger had to default in the championship match. Paige Allen of Eastern Oregon University received the default and won the weight class.
Also for Evergreen, Erica Grant (Jr.) earned third place in the 131-pound weight class, Leah Wallway (Fr.) placed third in the 110-pound weight class, and Zeta Lee (So.) took third place in the 117-pound weight class. Karen Sallas (So.) of the Geoducks placed fourth at 103 pounds.
The Evergreen women’s wrestling team will return to action at the Grand View Open in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, Feb. 7. The tournament will be held at the Dave Sisam Arena starting at 9 a.m. CST / 7 a.m. PST.
Geoducks Set 3 School Records at UW Preview
Three athletes set school records as The Evergreen State College track and field teams opened the 2026 indoor season at the UW Preview on Friday, Jan. 16 and Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Dempsey Indoor track and field facility. Evergreen’s new indoor records were set by Max Baeder (So.) in the men’s 3,000-meter run, Jonathan Van Pelt (Fr.) in the pole vault, and DeAndre Wright (Fr.) in the 60-meter dash.
Evergreen also competed in the women’s 3,000-meter run, the men’s 200-meter dash, and the men’s mile run.
Baeder earned a time of 8:55.23 in the “B” sections of the men’s 3,000-meter run to set the school record. Van Pelt placed seventh in the men’s pole vault with a school record when he cleared 4.05 meters (13′ 3.50″). The pole vault was won by Bryce White of UPC with a height of 4.65 meters (15′ 3″).
Wright tacked on a school record in the men’s 60-meter dash with a time of 7.02 seconds. He tied for 10th place in the prelims with Cameron Trichel of Western Washington University. Wright was just 0.04 out of reaching the top eight and qualifying for the finals. Jarvae Lindsay (Fr.) also competed in the prelims of the 60-meter dash for Evergreen and claimed a time of 7.95 seconds.
In addition to setting a school record at 60 meters, Wright moved into second place on Evergreen’s all-time list in the 200-meter dash. He reached the finish line in 23.49 seconds.
Three Geoducks ran for Evergreen in the women’s 3,000-meter run. Alauna Carstens (Jr.) registered a time of 10:13.30 in the “A” section of the 3,000. In the “B” sections of the 3,000, Madison Palek (So.) was clocked at 11:12.23 and Sylvie Biesack (Fr.) completed the race in 11:47.27. Palek improved her personal record by 32 seconds and moved into fourth all-time for Evergreen in the indoor 3,000-meter run.
Participating in the “B” sections of the men’s mile for the Geoducks were Osvaldo Calderon (Fr.), Nathaniel Sanchez (Fr.), and Daniel Sanchez (Fr.). Calderon placed 17th with the fifth-fastest indoor mile in Evergreen history at 4:37.06. Nathaniel Sanchez was timed at 4:49.54, and Daniel Sanchez finished in 5:09.57.
Evergreen will compete at the Concordia University Polar Dog Invite in Seward, Nebraska, on Friday, Jan. 23 and will participate in the Mark Colligan Memorial at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, on the same day.
