Wrestling: Pahrump’s Yoffee sisters bring 3rd-place trophies back from Washington

Young wrestlers Mika and Suri Yoffee each tackled Bigfoot over the weekend, and each came away with solid results.

The Northwest Bigfoot Battle is a wrestling tournament, part of USA Wrestling’s Folkstyle Tour of America 2019-2020. And both of Pahrump’s Yoffee sisters brought home third-place trophies, shaped like, of course, Bigfoot.

Both girls wrestle for Slam Wrestling Club, and that means mom Marianne drives them to Henderson for wrestling practice several times each week.

“They currently are doing online school and travel four to five times a week to Henderson for their practice at Slam,” Marianne Yoffee said.

The work has been paying off, most recently Saturday in Spokane, Washington. Wrestling in the 12U 80-85 division, meaning girls 12 years old and under weighing between 80 and 85 pounds, Mika, 11, had a bye in the first round, then lost by fall to Timberly Martinez of the MJ Mustangs (Lakewood, Colorado) with just 4 seconds left in the first period.

That sent Mika into the consolation bracket, where she made quick work of Moses Lake (Washington) Wrestling Club’s Elyssa Armendariz, winning in a 15-0 technical fall. Next came the consolation final, which she won by injury default over Brooklyn Anderson of Team Real Life (Post Falls, Idaho) in 1:38.

That earned Mika a shot at main draw runner-up Adalyne Montiel of Team Demolition, where Mika dropped a 9-4 decision to settle for third place.

Over in the girls 10U 50 division, Suri Yoffee, 8, took a different path to her third-place trophy. Suri drew a bye in the opening round, then defeated Faylinn Smith of Lionheart Wrestling Club (Pullman, Washington) 4-2 in the semifinals before falling to Team Aggression’s Elise Albeso by technical fall in the final.

That sent her into a match against the consolation bracket survivor, Alyzah Gonzalez of Young Suns, who had lost to Smith in her opening match. The match was a struggle throughout, but Gonzalez outlasted Suri 2-0 to take second place.

Before the trip to Spokane, the Yoffee sisters began and ended their summer by placing in tournaments. On May 26, Mika placed third in the USA Nationals Folkstyle event in Las Vegas and took second in the freestyle while Suri finished third in her division in both events.

Then it was on to San Diego on Aug. 3, where Suri won both events in her division at D-Day on the Midway while Mika placed second in folkstyle and third in freestyle.