All-County Girls Wrestling Team: Marina’s Carissa Qureshi is the O.C. wrestler of the year

GIRLS WRESTLER OF THE YEAR

CARISSA QURESHI, MARINA, SENIOR

Marina senior Carissa Qureshi is the Orange County girls wrestler of the year for the 2022-23 season.

She went 37-0 and won the CIF State championship at 126 pounds.

She pinned her opponent in the state final in 1 minute, 5 seconds to continue her string of dominating victories at the state tournament. Qureshi was top-seeded in the weight class, and she pinned all five of her opponents, including the first one in 48 seconds and the second in 61 seconds.

“I was really prepared for this tournament,” Qureshi said of her victory. “I put a lot of time in for it. My confidence was very high.”

At the CIF Southern Section Eastern Division championships, Qureshi went 5-0 with five pins to win the 126-pound division title and help Marina win the Eastern Division title.

Marina coach Chris Rasmussen said Qureshi, who has a 4.2 grade-point average, defines what a student-athlete should be.

“Her work ethic is great,” Rasmussen said, “and she’s a pretty darned good student, too. She has very high goals in wrestling but her academic goals are even higher.”

COACH OF THE YEAR

CHRIS RASMUSSEN, MARINA

Marina’s Chris Rasmussen is the Orange County girls wrestling coach of the year for the 2022-23 season.

He coached the Vikings to its second consecutive CIF State championship.

The Vikings won this season’s state championship by scoring 114 points. Walnut was second at 88 points.

Three Marina wrestlers – seniors Carissa Qureshi (126 pounds), Saiheron Preciado-Meza (189 pounds) and Destiny Marquez (235 pounds) – won state titles.

Rasmussen, 44, has coached at Marina for 13 years. This season was a special one for him.

“I’ll always remember how much fun the girls had together,” he said. “Wrestling is a drag sometimes, a grind as they say, but this team really had a lot of fun together.”