Prairie High School girls wrestler Faith Tarrant is entering her senior season 3-0 in state title matches at 235 pounds and with big plans.
Tarrant has the opportunity to win state all four years, a rare feat for any individual sport, especially wrestling. Tarrant said she approaches this final high school season with a lot of excitement after putting in a lot of offseason work leading into the high school wrestling season.
“I kind of changed my technique, you know, because everybody’s obviously watching me,” she said. “I’m the person to beat, so make sure I put in the work. I wrestled a lot in the offseason, just consistently putting in work to make sure that I remain on top and try to stay level-headed, like, I won the state titles, yes, but it’s a new year. It’s fair game.”
Tarrant first started wrestling around age 7, she recalled. Tarrant added that looking back on her journey, she never would have expected the sport to give her so many things, including the opportunity to wrestle in college.
“Coming from being a young kid, it was just something fun. I figured I could beat up my brother,” Tarrant said. “And then moving to Washington, I actually joined the Prairie wrestling team to make new friends because I had moved here from Colorado. So I guess getting into high school and realizing how much wrestling supported me in and outside of the wrestling room was just awesome. Like, it’s given me something that I don’t think I would have ever had. I’m thankful every day that I decided to wrestle.”
One thing Tarrant loves about wrestling, she said, is that even the best wrestler in the state can be defeated with one move. With that in mind, she knows she has to remain level-headed in matches so she can be as successful as in the past three years.
During the offseason, Tarrant wrestled on the Washington national team, where she earned the rank of fourth in the nation and a second-place finish at the US Open. She did miss out on the trip to Fargo, North Dakota, for the national championship, which she said was disappointing, but she is looking forward to wrestling on the Washington National Team for one more year once the high school season concludes.
Tarrant said girls wrestling continues to grow in the state of Washington, especially in the past four years. It has grown tremendously from when she first started out. She said that when she was younger, she had maybe one or two girls to match up against.
“I’m really glad that we get the opportunity because we’re finally getting the same opportunity the boys are getting,” Tarrant said. “So, I think that’s really cool.”
Tarrant said her first appearance on the mat for the Falcons this season will take place on Saturday, Dec. 14, in the War of the Roses in Portland.
