Lady Tigers take impressive third in Lemoore's Last Girl Standing Wrestling Tournament

Barnes is coming off two straight years where she earned spots in the CIF Girls Wrestling Championships and based on Friday’s effort she appears to be gunning for yet another trip.

The Tigers' Destiny Barnes managed to finish third at 235 pounds Friday afternoon in the Last Girl Standing Tournament.

Photo by Bill Burris, Lemooresports.com

Barnes helped lead the Tigers to a third-place finish in the prestigious tournament. Only Mt. Whitney (first place), and Mission Oak finished better than Lemoore. The Pioneers collected a total of 138 points in cruising to the tourney title while Mission Oak held off Lemoore’s 97 third-place votes with 107 votes of its own.

Redwood finished fourth while Sanger rounded out the top five.

Barnes cruised to the tourney title, opening with an easy win over Porterville’s Dorothy Steenbergen before defeating Caruthers’ Mary Jane Waley in the next round. Sanger’s Mia Morales fell to the powerful Barnes in the semifinals before the talented Tiger defeated Monache’s Ramona Ortega in the finals.

Barnes’ sister Destiny, wrestling at 235 pounds, had a third-place showing, losing only to Redwood’s Lynice Luna in the opening rounds. Luna’s sister, Litzy, went on to win the tournament title.

In other tournament action, Lemoore’s Marissa Perico, a ninth grader, took second at 101 pounds while fellow freshman Mia Meno took third at 121 pounds.