Redwood’s sole female wrestler, senior Hannah Twomey, will be competing today in the State Championships in Visalia, Calif.

Twomey, who was seeded eighth in the 126-pound bracket at the Feb. 14 NCS girls’ wrestling tournament, pinned top seed Naomi Narvaez in the quarterfinals. She ultimately finished in second place.

Twomey placed sixth in NCS as a freshman and fourth as a sophomore. She did not wrestle in NCS last year because she was in the Team program, which impeded her ability to practice and compete.

“I gave up a lot for Team and it was definitely worth it, but it wasn’t easy,” Twomey said.

Today will be her first time competing at the state meet, and she hopes to place.

“I’m just going to go in knowing it’s my last tournament wrestling and I want to leave everything on the mat. [I want to] let these four years of wrestling pay off,” Twomey said.

Twomey added that she has faced some discrimination as the only girl on the wrestling team.

“There’s definitely prejudice. There are some guys who won’t practice with me just because I’m a girl,” she said. “I’m kind of annoyed but at the same time, do I really want to wrestle someone who’s that vulnerable? I find it ridiculous at this point.”

However, Twomey doesn’t let her gender stop her from wrestling competitively.

“I just show up to practice, have a good workout, and train for my tournaments. I try to not let being a girl get in my way, and when guys say things about me being a girl, I’ll laugh sometimes if they’re funny or I’ll shut it down if it’s bothering me.”