Kiski Area’s Golding earns another girls wrestling regional title as WPIAL fares well

By: Ted Sarneso
Saturday, March 1, 2025 | 9:46 PM

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All the usual suspects were at the PIAA girls regional championships Saturday at North Allegheny High School.

Ava Golding of Kiski Area, Plum’s Safia Davis and Alaina Claassen, Southmoreland’s Zoey Murphy and a contingent of 10 Canon-McMillan wrestlers were present and eager for the action to start.

But there was a notable absence.

Norwin’s Josephine Dollman was scratched from the tournament after undergoing surgery to correct a torn ligament in her ankle.

Knights coaches said Dollman injured her ankle in the WPIAL match but continued to wrestle to victory. It was later discovered in a doctor’s visit that she had done damage to her ankle.

Last year, Dollman took first at 142 and was favored to claim the championship at 148 this year.

Trinity’s Elaina Ashby took home gold in the 148-pound bracket, pinning Canon-McMillan’s Evangeline Gray at 1 minute, 14 seconds of the first period. It was the third of three WPIAL rematches on the night.

Without Dollman, there were only two Knights left to wrestle.

WPIAL champ Karsyn Champion was the top seed at 155 and looking for her second regionals championship after winning at 148 last year. Her bid to earn another gold medal was cut down in the quarterfinals as District 10 runner-up Whisper Abercrombie of General McLane won a 11-6 decision.

Champion wrestled her way through the consolation bracket and pinned Trinity Webster of Hickory to place third.

Abercrombie would lose to Cydney Rea of Northwestern in a District 10 championship rematch. Rea pinned Abercrombie in the third for the win at 155.

Norwin’s Octavia Walker made it to the title match at 170, where she took on District 10 champion Davaya Truman of Erie.

Truman scored an early takedown and a pair of nearfalls to go up 10-0. Walker fought all the way back with a reversal and two straight four-point nearfalls to tie the score at 10-10.

Truman then scored a reversal and a two-point nearfall to come away with the 14-10 win.

In the second WPIAL title bout rematch, Golding looked to defend her 136-pound title against a familiar foe: Connellsville junior Janayah Nobles. The pair faced off in last year’s regionals and again this year in the WPIALs, with Golding winning both times.

On Saturday, Golding (33-0) again came away with the win, this time by a 5-1 decision for her second consecutive regional championship.

“That’s the eleventh time I’ve wrestled her, and it’s almost expected that we’re going to face off in every tournament,” Golding said. “I looked back at my previous matches and what needed work, and the work this week paid off.”

After neither wrestler scored a point in the first period, Golding came away with two points via a reversal at the halfway mark of the second period and scored a third-period takedown.

“I had the match planned out in my head, and it played out just how I wanted it to,” Golding said. “It gets really close sometimes and that’s never where I want to be, so I did my best to keep a gap in the score.”

Golding returns to Hershey, where she placed third last year, but is driven to have a better result this year.

“I’ve worked so hard this season, and the goal is to remain undefeated and get to the finals,” Golding said.

Golding’s teammate, sophomore Alyssa Tresco, lost an 8-3 decision to Abigail Dolanch of Avella at 142.

Tresco was able to get a first-period takedown, but Dolanch secured a takedown of her own in the second then had a reversal and another takedown in the third to pull away.

For the Plum wrestlers, the day was filled with mixed results.

Alaina Claassen, who won a regional championship last year at 235, wrestled down at 190 this year and took on Natalie Rush of Canon-McMillan in the championship bout. Rush ran away with the match, defeating Classen by a 16-1 tech fall.

“I did not expect to beat her by that much,” Rush said. “We wrestled in the Powerade finals and she won 9-5. Coming into this, I knew I had to be strong and stick through it. I’m ecstatic that I was able to tech her.”

Rush was the defending regional champion in the weight class.

“Coming into this I wanted to redeem myself from my losses in the Powerade and the WPIALs, and I wanted to prove that I could do it,” added Rush.

Alaina’s sister Addison lost to WPIAL champion Anna Duncan of South Park in the opening period and then lost in the consolation round to Burrell’s Bella Stewart.

Mustangs junior Saphia Davis, who went home as a champion last year at 124, wrestled at 130 this year and lost 9-6 in overtime to McDowell’s Chloe Zacherl, who recorded a pin in the extra period. Zacherl is the District 10 champion.

WPIAL champion Hailey Smarsh of Moon pinned Zacherl in 3:43 to claim gold.

In the first WPIAL rematch of the afternoon, Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, the WPIAL champion at 118, faced off against WPIAL runner-up Paige Jox of Mt. Lebanon.

“I was a little nervous, felt like I was putting too much pressure on myself instead of opening up more,” Ireland said. “I’m proud of myself for digging deep to survive that last ride out.”

Ireland recorded a reversal in the sudden-death period and took the match by a 3-1 decision in the first tiebreaker period.

“I wanted it really badly,” Ireland said. “I knew what I had to do to get it done, and I was willing to do whatever I needed to come away with the win.”

Murphy secured a second-period pin to beat Sharpsville’s Bella White at 1:04 of the second period.

“It feels amazing to get gold,” Murphy said. “It was a tough match. I kept kneeing her in the head instead of stepping over her head. It got a little rough there at the end. There was no doubt I was going to win.”

In the 100-weight class, Montour junior Kristen Walzer, who was runner-up last year, faced off against District 10 champion Lily Young of Sharpsville. Walzer survived, multiple shots to the face and came way with a 5-4 decision and a gold medal.

WPIAL champion Marlee Solomon of Canon-McMillan faced Trinity Moore of Connellsville at 112. Solomon scored multiple takedowns in route to a 17-1 tech fall victory.

Anna Duncan of South Park, the WPIAL champion, took on Emmaleah Cunningham of Beaver in the 124 bout. Cunningham scored two takedowns in route to a win by 6-4 decision.

In the only other championship match to not feature a WPIAL wrestler, District 10 champion Finley Fourspring of Corry secured first place as District 10 runner-up Ashley Campbell forfeited because of injury at 106.

The top four girls in each weight class qualified for the PIAA tournament Thursday-Saturday at Giant Center in Hershey.

Tags: Kiski Area