Canon-McMillan’s Solomon is WPIAL’s only girls wrestling state champ

By: David Bohr
Saturday, March 8, 2025 | 8:34 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

HERSHEY — When the PIAA held its first girls wrestling championships last March, one WPIAL wrestler won a gold medal. It was Valarie Solorio of Canon-McMillan.

On Saturday, at the second PIAA girls wrestling championships, the story was mostly the same. Except, this time, standing atop the medal stand was the Macs’ Marlee Solomon.

Solomon of Canon-McMillan was never threatened in her 112-pound championship matchup, defeating Conneaut’s Daylee Watson, 14-0, at Giant Center.

“It feels really, really good, because this is something I’ve never done before,” said Solomon, who had one pinfall victory and three decisions by a cumulative score of 33-1.

When Solomon (36-2) won her semifinal Friday night against Brashear’s Tamara Humphries, she said she opened that match cautiously. That was not the case with a gold medal on the line.

“My mindset changed,” said Solomon, whose career record is 83-7. “It was not to worry about what they may do but remembering the hard work I did to get here. … It was more about trusting in myself.”

Solomon recorded a takedown early in the first period and spent the next 100 seconds in a stalemate. She couldn’t get nearfall points, but Watson never showed signs of escaping. The second period opened with a quick escape for Solomon and another takedown in the middle of the frame.

Watson (22-13) only had a couple of openings to even attempt a takedown in the third period, and Solomon doubled her score in the last 15 seconds with a takedown and four nearfall points.

“I just went with the flow,” Solomon said of the last two minutes. “I didn’t want to go super-offensive but not too defensive either. I just didn’t want to get caught.”

Two other WPIAL wrestlers were in the finals, but neither was able to pull off an upset.

At 190, Alaina Claassen of Plum dropped a 5-0 decision to Caroline Hattala of Quakertown. Hattala (34-0) spun Claassen into a takedown midway through the first period.

Though Claassen (29-3) was able to hold off any nearfall points, she could not get any scoring of her own through a second period that had both grapplers stay in neutral positions. Claassen opted to start the third from the top, but Hattala turned a reversal in less than 15 seconds for the last points.

In the last match of the tournament, Zoey Murphy of Southmoreland was pinned by Panther Valley’s Brenda Banks.

Banks (36-1), now a two-time PIAA champion, registered a takedown 35 seconds into the bout and was awarded the pin just 7 seconds after that. Murphy (22-2) did not perform poorly — Banks had won her semifinal is just 10 seconds and earned all her victories by pinfall.

The only all-WPIAL match of the day was the bronze medal contest in 136, won by Maggie Alfera of Laurel over Janayah Nobles of Connellsville, 4-3. Alfera moved into the third-place match when she received a forfeit victory in the earlier consolation round. Nobles won her earlier match 7-3 over Karissa Springer of Selinsgrove.

Humphries of Brashear collected a bronze medal by posting an 18-4 major decision win over Iris Reitz of Redbank Valley in the 112 third-place match. Earlier in the day, Humphries defeated Olivia Kerns of Shippensburg, 8-4, in consolations.

Elaina Ashby of Trinity placed fourth after being pinned in the 148 bronze medal match by Katalyna Borreli of Tulpehocken in 4:49. Ashby defeated Jahzari Abney of Dover 11-6 in the early consolations.

Also finishing fourth was Liliana Giulianelli of Peters Township after being pinned by Jurelys Peguero del Rosario at 43 seconds into the 190 match. Giulianelli moved into the bronze medal match via a 52-second pin against Katelynn Krepps of Juniata.

South Park’s Anna Duncan placed fifth in 124 after pinning Madacyn Rivera of Pen-Argyl in 4:38. Duncan dropped a 3-0 decision to Anaiah Kolesar of Northeast Bradford in the consolations.

Abigail Dolanch of Avella pinned Avery Baldwin of Dallastown in 2:52 to take fifth place in 142. Dolanch dropped her earlier consolation 3-0 to Jenny Gautreau of Oral J. Roberts.

In the 100 bracket, Kristen Walzer of Montour dropped an 8-1 decision to Chelsea Dressler of Nazareth to take a sixth-place medal. Walzer had lost her earlier consolation match 4-0 to Claire Gobrecht of Southwestern.

Knoch’s Braylee Ireland lost her 118 fifth-place contest to Faith Gladfelter, being pinned at 4:48 despite leading 6-4. Ireland had been pinned in 50 seconds by Lillian Rumsey of Williamsport in the first consolation match of the day.

Haley Smarsh of Moon and Ava Golding of Kiski Area both forfeited each of their Saturday matches in 130 and 136, respectively. They placed sixth.

Ariona Strader of Pine-Richland was seventh in 124 after recording a takedown 45 seconds into overtime for a 5-2 win over Emily Sarr of Souderton.

Plum’s Saphia Davis also took home a seventh-place medal after posting a 10-5 win over Callie Hess of Benton.

At 190, Arianna Bernard of Valley placed seventh with a pin in 1:42 against Maura Case of Easton.

Ella Trahan of Fort Cherry took the eighth-place medal in 106 after dropping the seventh-place match to Holly McKinney of Souderton 7-1.

Norwin’s Karsyn Champion lost to Cydney Rea of Northwestern, 4-0, to finish eighth.