3 WPIAL wrestlers to go for gold in PIAA girls finals

By: David Bohr
Friday, March 7, 2025 | 9:51 PM

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HERSHEY — Three WPIAL wrestlers will be in gold medal matches at the PIAA girls wrestling championships Saturday afternoon at Giant Center.

Marlee Solomon of Canon-McMillan (112 pounds), Alaina Claassen of Plum (190) and Zoey Murphy of Southmoreland (235) will battle for state titles. Though their victorious results in Friday night’s semifinals might seem a bit lopsided, nothing could be taken for granted in the late session. The other nine WPIAL and District 8 semifinalist were beaten.

Of course, two of those semifinals were between WPIAL rivals.

Solomon defeated Tamara Humphries of Brashear, 11-0. It was just 3-0 after four minutes, courtesy of a takedown with 30 seconds left in the first period.

“I’ve wrestled her before,” Solomon said. “I just wanted to wrestle a little bit safer.”

By the final frame, Solomon stopped being quite so cautious and started to dominate, escaping early and quickly adding another takedown and four near-fall points.

Emotions spilled over a bit after the buzzer with some pushing, and Brashear was given a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the contest.

In the quarterfinals, Solomon beat Nevaeh Colon of Wilson Area, 8-1. Humphries pinned Emily Kivler of Greater Nanticoke in 4:46.

Solomon will face Daylee Watson of Conneaut in the championship bout. The lone WPIAL champion from last year was from Canon-McMillian: Valarie Solorio, who is now wrestling at Iowa.

At 190, Claassen hoped to make it a swift semifinal match and did with a pin in 1:28 against Liliana Giulianelli of Peters Township.

“Yes, as quick as possible,” Claassen said. “I’ve wrestled her, like, 800 times. It’s a good matchup. I’m just glad I didn’t do anything stupid or get caught.”

A chance at a gold medal was the goal from the beginning for the junior, who missed her freshman season and part of her sophomore season with a knee injury. It required three surgeries before she competed again.

“I’m just trying to embrace it,” Claassen said. “Just making it to states is a great accomplishment, but making it to the end, not many girls make it there. I’m just treating it as an opportunity.”

In the quarterfinals, Claassen defeated Taylor Orner of Octorara, 11-2. Giulianelli won over Esmeralda Tellez of Reading, 7-1.

Awaiting Claassen in the final is Caroline Hattala of Quakertown.

Murphy had a scoreless first period against Addison Munro of Bethlehem Liberty and gave up an escape point late in the second. But Murphy found an opening to get a takedown and turned it into a pin at the 3:56 mark.

Murphy earned a 4-0 win over MacKenna Atkinson of Souderton in the quarterfinals. Her championship opponent will be Brenda Banks of Panther Valley.

The losers in the semifinals will wrestle twice Saturday morning for the third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place medals.

A potential WPIAL championship rematch was short-circuited in 136. Ava Golding of Kiski Area suffered her first loss of the year in the semis, dropping a 5-1 decision to Sarah Pearson of Downingtown West. Meanwhile, Janayah Nobles of Connellsville was pinned by Central Dauphin’s Charlotte Gilfoil in 3:27.

In the quarters, Golding won by technical fall 17-2 over Briella Walk of Montgomery, and Nobles earned a 7-5 decision over Charlotte Hunt of Philipsburg-Osceola.

Kristen Walzer of Montour had an 8-3 lead after two periods in the 100 semifinal but Makayla Smith of Northern York scored six points in the last 40 seconds to force overtime. Smith then recorded a pin at the 6:26 mark. Walzer had pinned Annabelle Ramos of Executive Education in 1:36 in the quarterfinals.

At 118, Braylee Ireland of Knoch was pinned in 1:00 by Savannah Witt of Palisades. In the quarterfinals, Ireland defeated Saige Oliver of Honesdale, 8-1.

South Park’s Anna Duncan was pinned by Neve O’Byrne of Garnet Valley at 3:25 in the 124 semifinals. Duncan won by fall in the quarterfinals, taking down Emily Sarr of Souderton in 2:30.

Haley Smarsh of Moon was also pinned in the 130 semis, at the 5:10 mark by Zoe Furman of Montgomery. Smarsh won her quarterfinal by pinning Lucia Crossken of Southern Lehigh in 2:37.

At 148, Elaina Ashby of Trinity was pinned in 40 seconds by Violette Lasure of Chestnut Ridge. Ashby won her quarterfinal by pinfall in 5:58 over Eve Kurtz of Pine Grove.

Still in the mix

When the semifinals concluded, other wresters were in the third-round consolations. These winners moved into the third-through-sixth place bracket. The losers will still be in seventh-place medal bouts.

At 106, Ella Trahan of Fort Cherry was pinned by Jordyn Sohina of Big Spring in 4:03. That ended a long day for Trahan. She lost her quarterfinal by fall in 1:55 against Julia Horger of Conwell Egan, but won her first consolation bout with a pin over Jessica Li of Chambersburg in 1:27.

Ariona Strader of Pine-Richland started the day in the consolations, winning her first match 17-1 over Joyce Clink of Athens but dropping the late match to Anaiah Kolesar of Northeast Bedford by pin in 4:44.

At 130, Saphia Davis of Plum started her day with a loss in the quarterfinals, being pinned by Aubrey Krazer of Easton in 3:12. Davis bounced back with a 13-1 consolation win against Aubrey Rebuck of Shikellamy but then lost the late consolation contest 11-3 to Ella Teufert of Octorara.

Maggie Alfera of Laurel lost her 136 quarterfinal after being pinned by Central Dauphin’s Charlotte Gilfoil in 36 seconds. The rest of the day went much better for Alfera, as she defeated Michelle Yakupova of Abington, 8-5, and Charlotte Hunt of Philipsburg-Osceola, 8-2, in the consolations.

Abigail Dolanch of Avella stayed in the mix for a bronze by the same pattern in 142. She was pinned in the quarterfinals by Angelina Spachman of Parkland in 1:29. Then she pinned Austynn Falls of Central Mountain in 1:53 and defeated Maddison Miller of Honesdale, 8-5.

Karsyn Champion of Norwin had two consolation matches in 155. She had a 17-0 technical fall win over ChaseMarie Ryan of Quakertown in the early session but was pinned by Makayla Taylor of Clearfield in 3:44 in the late session.

The very last of the girls matches Friday night was Tellez defeating Arianna Bernard of Valley, 1-0, at 190. Bernard had won an earlier consolation 4-0 over Taylor Orner of Octorara.

Blood round casualties

Wrestlers who lost in the second round of consolations — held after Friday’s quarterfinals — were knocked out of medal contention.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to come out of the so-called “blood round” was that Canon-McMillian’s Natalie Rush, a finalist last year, was knocked out short of the medal stand. At 190, Rush was pinned in her quarterfinal by McCaskey’s Jurelys Peguero in 2:34. Then she dropped a 3-2 decision to Maura Case of Easton in the consolation match that followed.

Yuni Ayala of Canon-McMillian was beaten by major decision 11-2 by Saige Oliver of Honesdale. Also at 118, Paige Jox of Mt. Lebanon scored a last-second takedown to force overtime but was ultimately pinned by Delone Catholic’s Faith Gladfelter at the 5:42 mark.

At 142, Grace Nasman of Upper St. Clair lost her consolation bout 5-4 to Dallastown’s Avery Baldwin after being pinned by Oral J. Roberts’s Jenny Gautreau in 1:24 in the quarterfinals.

Alyssa Tresco of Kiski Area lost a heartbreaker at 142. She fell 5-4 in triple overtime to Manheim Township’s Laila Colon. Tresco’s day started by being pinned in the quarterfinals by Zoey Haines of Gettysburg in 38 seconds.

Two other WPIAl wrestlers were knocked out in 148, each of whom lost quarterfinal bouts and consolation contests. Tiffany Gathers of Pine-Richland was pinned by Katalyna Burreli of Tulpehocken in 1:39 first, then beaten 7-3 by Jahzari Abney of Dover. Evangeline Gray of Canon-McMillian lost by major decision 11-3 to Jameson Strickland of Sun Valley, then was pinned by Lauren Sweet of Conestoga in 32 seconds.

At 170, Octavia Walker of Norwin suffered back-to-back defeats in the early session. She was pinned by Bryce Snyder of Palisades in 4:56 of the quarterfinals, then pinned by Lane Harrington of Strath Haven in 1:22 of the consolation.

Brooklyn Pearson of Woodland Hills was pinned by McKenna Atkinson of Souderton 48 seconds into their consolation match at 235.