BILLINGS -- Ronan senior Tirza TwoTeeth looked up to a pioneer on the wrestling mats while growing up.
That person is her older sister, Persephone Sandoval. She was one of Ronan High School's first female wrestlers, coach Cameron Neiss said, but that was before girls wrestling became sanctioned by the MHSA as a high school sport in Montana in the 2020-21 school year.
TwoTeeth had watched with an admiring eye in the late 2010s as Sandoval competed against boys and made state in what has historically been a big wrestling community. She then came into high school the year after girls wrestling began and has become a trailblazer herself in a standout career.
"It was really empowering to see her do that," she said after she won her third state championship on Saturday afternoon at MetraPark. "She was very strong."
TwoTeeth has shown her own strength in high school. She advanced to the state championship match in her weight class all four years.
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She closed three consecutive seasons by winning titles at 235 pounds. She finished with a 14-1 record at the state tournament with 14 wins by pin, including a pin of Browning's Kendahl Guardipee in this year's final.
Her only loss came in the 205-pound title match in her freshman year. She was beaten by Billings Skyview's Kassidee Savaria, who would go on to be Montana's first three-time girls state champion.
Finishing as the runner-up as a freshman gave her more motivation to continue pursuing the top, she said. It was a learning opportunity where she could take lessons and apply them to get better.
"I really enjoy getting in the gym and working on what I need to improve on," TwoTeeth said. "It has been a really fun process. It's an amazing sport."
Her success extends beyond Montana as she is in the national polls. She is ranked first at 235 pounds and 22nd in the pound-for-pound rankings by USA Wrestling, FloWrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.
Like Sandoval, she has traveled around the country to find increasingly better competition in freestyle, folkstyle and Greco-Roman. Her success at those events has elevated her standing on the national stage.
She won gold at the USA Wrestling Northwest Junior Regional in both freestyle and Greco-Roman last spring. She then took second in freestyle and third in Greco-Roman at the USA Wrestling Western Regional.
"TwoTeeth, she's awesome," Miles City coach Dan Fox said after his wrestler, Grayson DeJong, lost to her in this year's 235-pound state semifinals before going on to place third herself as the Cowgirls won the team title.
"She's good. She's ranked high in the nation, but our heavyweight battled it out. You got these girls that are at a caliber that's pretty damn good and we hung right there with them."
Ronan had only four girls come out for wrestling when TwoTeeth entered into the program in its first season in the 2021-22 school year. The team had grown to 27 wrestlers, including nine seniors, to start this past season.
She had practiced against the boys over her first three seasons, Neiss said. This year, she got her own girls wrestling partner: junior Haven Houle, who placed sixth at state in the same 235-pound bracket as TwoTeeth.
With not only increasing quantity but also quality, Ronan captured the Class A-B-C state title in 2023. The Maidens repeated the feat by winning the Class A crown in 2024. This year, they placed second in Class A.
"We all just keep each other accountable," TwoTeeth said. "We're a big family. We love and support each other. That's how we get through."
Her instant success as a freshman also made her think wrestling in college would be possible if she kept putting in the work. She plans to continue grappling at the next level, said she, and is still deciding between offers.
She hopes to see the program's success continue in the future, she said. She has shown others a path to flourishing while being coached by Neiss, a two-time state champion wrestler at Ronan and an All-American at MSU Northern.
Her lasting impact on Ronan goes beyond the wins she has amassed since she joined the program in its infancy.
"She's had a significant impact in not only building this program from the ground up in the sense of she was here from its inception but also how Tirza just drives it to the top," Neiss said.
"A lot of the girls that come into the room are brand new and look up to her, so it elevates their game. Sometimes it can be intimidating, but sometimes it can lift up the rest of her teammates and help them to drive to be better."
Frank Gogola is the Senior Sports Reporter at the Missoulian and 406 MT Sports. Follow him on X @FrankGogola or email him at frank.gogola@406mtsports.com.
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