Just a week after the Moffat County girls wrestling program earned its first ever regional title, one of its members proved that great things are worth working toward, even when there’s a roadblock.

Kayla Deaton took second place at Saturday’s CHSAA State Championships at Denver’s Ball Arena with a hard-fought final round going against her in an 18-6 major decision.

She brought her final season record to 42-5 with the silver finish, which paired her with Sierra’s Lilliana Limon.

---

---

The two were on opposite ends of the 4A girls’ 125-pound brackets, and their meeting was inevitable with Limon the top seed and Deaton second.

The two also had near-identical results across the first two days, with each earning 23.5 team points in the same progression: first-round technical fall (Deaton 16-0, Limon 18-1), a first-period pin in quarterfinals (Deaton at 1:44, Limon 1:53) and a pin in the semifinals to move on to the championship.

---

---

Though Deaton got her pin in the semis’ second period (3:26) and Limon in the third (5:38), neither would end up with the fall in their meeting, a test of strength and longevity but perhaps more importantly, patience.

After her Friday semifinal, Deaton noted that it helps to let a competitor overexert themselves early to strike back stronger.

“When she got on top of me, I wasn’t going to try too hard to do anything because I knew she’d get tired faster as long as I saved my energy,” Deaton said of the moments leading up to her pin of Sedgwick County’s Lexie Amendt, which got her into the finals.

The bout started oddly as Deaton’s first approach accidentally resulted in a finger in Limon’s eye, stopping the action momentarily.

Limon said she was able to power through and there was no bad blood about that, though she kept her defense very tight to avoid letting Deaton taking a shot.

“She’s really tough. If I let go for even a moment, she would have been on top,” Limon said. “She’s really strong, and you have to fight really hard in a match like that.”

MCHS girls wrestling first officially began in Deaton’s freshman year, and while she’s made it to Ball Arena each season, this marked her first time on the podium, most recently going 2-2 at state as a sophomore.

She noted that her mentality has been a tremendous difference-maker this winter, namely focusing on the match at hand more than rankings, statistics or reputation for herself or her opponents.

“I try not to take it as seriously and just stay calm about it,” Deaton said.

While Deaton is not the first MoCo girl to place in the top two spots at the ultimate tournament for Colorado High School Activities Association — Makaela Simpson was also a state runner-up in 2023 — head coach Ashlee Griffiths Ripka said she thinks it’s very likely her athlete’s loss this weekend will just be one chapter leading to a greater one as she makes her way to the top of the podium next year.

“Her story is not over,” Griffiths Ripka said.