Quinn Lacy wrestled through tears in her ACL and meniscus. Her goal is still to be a state champ

Quinn Lacy inspires respect.

The Shelton High School senior hasn’t wrestled an official match since defeating Karrah Smith of Granite Falls for third place at 170 pounds at Mat Classic XXX last February in the Tacoma Dome.

She’s undergone surgery for ACL and meniscus tears she wrestled through during the last month of the 2017-18 season. She was cleared to return to practice only last week, and won’t be eligible to wrestle an actual match until next week.

When she does compete, it will be at 190 pounds, a first for her at the high school level.

Yet, Lacy has been ranked as high as fourth in the Washington Wrestling Report rankings at 190 this season, despite an unchanging 0-0 record.

“I’m pretty confident,” Lacy said. “My goal is still to be a state champion. I hold myself to a high standard.”

Lacy has competed in the state meet every year. In addition to last year’s finish — when she lost to eventual champion Sabrina Perez of Kentwood in the semifinals — she also took third in 2017, pinning Caylee Collins of Highline.

This season, she’ll enter the postseason after only a single tournament — the Berserker Invite at Curtis on Jan. 26. Highclimbers girls wrestling coach Rodgar Garrick is hoping to set up practice matches for Lacy with wrestlers from Aberdeen and Hoquiam as soon as she puts in the WIAA minimum of 12 practice sessions.

Revving up from a dead stop will be a challenge, but no greater than the struggle Lacy faced last season. She hurt her left knee in a match, but didn’t grasp the severity of her injury.

“At the time, we didn’t think it was nearly as serious as it turned out to be,” said Lacy’s father, Chris, the Shelton boys wrestling coach. “In hindsight, we wish she hadn’t been wrestling on it.”

With the postseason looming, Quinn Lacy fought through it.

“She attacks every aspect of her life like a wrestler,” said Garrick, who has known Lacy since “she was in a car seat,” and pointed to other physical challenges, such as a broken leg in elementary school, and an ongoing respiratory issue.

“She attacks what’s in front of her.”

Wrestling through sub-regional and regional competitions before beating four of the state’s best at the Tacoma Dome in a two-day span on a thrashed knee wasn’t made easier by the fact Lacy’s impairment was obvious.

“I had to change to a more defensive style, manipulate a lot of my moves so I could still use them,” she said. “I couldn’t hide it. I had a big metal brace on, covered by a bunch of padding.”

Garrick was beyond impressed by the results.

“It was awesome watching her wrestle the last three weeks of the season on one leg,” he said. “She couldn’t attack on her feet, had to be defensive, which is not her nature.”

Wrestling itself has always been in Lacy’s nature.

Her dad was a standout wrestler at Shelton and her uncle Dupree Lacy went to state twice, and later won a national championship at 190 pounds. Quinn Lacy picked up the sport at age 5, and hasn’t looked back.

At first, she was one of the few girls in town wrestling. This season, the Highclimbers split the girls off into a separate program, with Garrick, a longtime assistant to Chris Lacy, coaching what has become a squad of 12 girls.

“The wrestling room was getting a little too crowded,” Chris Lacy said.

His daughter welcomes the change, even though it’s meant a little less direct coaching from her dad.

“It’s really exciting to be a part of the first girls team, after being the only girl when I started out,” she said. “It’s different not always having my dad there every single day, but obviously I can still turn to him if I need some extra help.”

Though medically cleared to wrestle, Lacy admits she’s not yet 100 percent.

“My knee still feels a little different. I’m not in as good of shape as I could be, but I’m getting there,” she said.

Garrick knows reaching her goal of a state championship will be an uphill climb for Lacy, but wouldn’t bet against her.

“She has a calm, level-headed attitude. Except on the mat,” he said. “On the mat, she can get kind of mean. When Quinn gets on top, there’s no way the other girl is getting away from her.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2019 at 7:12 AM.