HERSHEY>>The southeastern area of Pennsylvania had many representatives in the medal rounds at the first PIAA Girls Wrestling State Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. Ten athletes received medals in the morning session, and another four competed for first place in Saturday night's championship finals.
Julia Horger, who lives in Bensalem and wrestles for Conwell-Egan at 106, was the only southeastern Pennsylvania athlete to win a state title. She performed well in the later part of the match to secure a 9-3 victory over Madlyn Enterlyne from Greenville.
The main match of the night was at 136, between Kennett's Haylie Jaffe and Bishop McCort's Jordyn Fouse. Both have unofficial state titles in the past and have high national rankings–Jaffe was ranked No. 1.
The two were having a closely contested match when they got into a heated scramble. Fouse emerged from it with Jaffe on her back and secured a fall at 5:27 to win the title. Fouse was also named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
Three local athletes finished as second-place finishers. At 100, Neshaminy freshman Grace Nesbitt had a good tournament and reached the finals but lost to Val Solorio from Canon MacMillan, who is a senior heading to the University of Iowa for wrestling next year.
Sienna Landrum from Downingtown West at 142 stormed into the finals with three pins and started her finals match with a nice Fireman's Carry for a takedown, but Lasure of Chestnut Ridge managed to come back and win by fall.
Landrum, a junior at Downingtown West, said, “It’s been a great experience overall. I'm just going to get back to work, trying to keep getting better, and come back next year to win it all.”
As of November, West didn’t even have a girls team.
“We hastily formed the girls team with just four girls,” said West coach Brad Breese. “At first, we weren't sure if we were doing the right thing, but after attending a couple of tournaments and seeing what the girls could do, and how much they enjoyed being around all the other girls, we knew we made the right decision. We've known for a while how good Sienna is. Now everyone will know.”
Souderton freshman MacKenna Atkinson reached the finals at 235, where she competed against Panther Valley’s Brenda Banks, who she has faced multiple times over the past couple of months, with Banks emerging victorious each time. In Saturday night’s final, Banks once again won with a score of 3-0.
“It’s a mix of good and bad feelings,” expressed Souderton coach and MacKenna’s Dad, Chris Atkinson, who played a key role in the SanctionPA campaign that resulted in the PIAA endorsing girls wrestling. “It’s fantastic to reach the state finals as a freshman, but a bit disheartening to not win. We've encountered Banks about four times in the last month. This was a close match, but we’ll use what we learn from it and strive to get better. The disappointment from this will only make her more eager for next year.”
For the older Atkinson, that disappointment is at least somewhat lessened by the significance of the occasion.
“MacKenna has been involved in wrestling almost her entire life,” said Atkinson. “We remember vividly all the times she was told she couldn’t wrestle, or that boys wouldn't want to wrestle her. So, being able to watch her compete on the Giant Center Mat in Hershey in front of thousands is really thrilling.”
The first medal of the day went to Bensalem’s Peyton Hinkle, who claimed fifth place at 100 pounds, winning by injury default over Montour’s Kristen Walzer.
Garnet Valley had two medal winners in freshman Reese Dewar and senior Jessica Avala. Dewar secured a fall in 1:22 over Northern Bedford’s Kaylee Eberson to secure fifth place at 106.
“Reese wrestled when she was younger, and just came back to it,” shared Garnet coach Chris Tate. “I teach in the middle school, so I’m always looking to get kids to come out. Reese did a great job this weekend, and I’m sure she’ll be looking to improve on it next year.”
Avala, who plans to continue her wrestling career in college but is undecided about where, turned on the heat late to dominate a close match with Greater Johnstown’s Sayonna Harris, securing a 6-1 victory for a third-place finish.
“It feels amazing to walk away with the third-place medal in my senior year,” said Avala. “It’s just really great that I got to wrestle in this kind of environment before I graduated. It’s been a long time coming.”
Declo had one other medal winner, with Sun Valley’s Jameson Strickland taking fourth place at 148.
Quakertown also had two medal winners, with Caroline Hattala (190) and Peyton Fries (235) claiming hardware. Hattala battled through injury to finish sixth, while Fries concluded her high school career with a 6-1 victory over Penn Manor’s Brooklyn Ayala.
“I’m crying, but it’s tears of joy,” said Fries, who will be wrestling at Alvernia University next season. “I got a chance to be here with the team a couple years ago wrestling on the boys team, but it was pretty amazing to actually be on the mat competing.”
Kaitlynn Arnold (155) brought home Avon Grove’s first medal for girls wrestling, securing seventh place with a second-period fall over Marty Morrison of West Perry.
Souderton secured two medals, with Emily Sarr taking 8th place at 106, and Makenna Atkinson going for gold Saturday night.
Upper Dublin had one medal winner, with Kylee Netter securing a 12-0 major decision over Veronic White of East Pennsboro for seventh place at 142.
Savannah Richards from Pottstown became the Trojans' first state medalist since Seth Ecker in the early 2000s. She won seventh place at 118.
