Wrestling notebook: Girls ready to take big stage at Powerade

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 26, 2023 | 7:44 PM

The seeds for the first Powerade Girls Wrestling tournament were released, and only two girls from the WPIAL — Laurel senior Alexis Brua (124 pounds) and Canon-McMillan junior Natalie Rush (190) — earned top seeds.

The girls (high school, junior high and elementary) and non-varsity boys (junior varsity, junior high and youth) get underway Wednesday at Canon-McMillan High School.

The girls start things at 10 a.m., and the boys (8 and under) follow at 1 p.m. The 10 and under, 12 and under begin 8 a.m. Thursday, the 15 and under at 12:30 p.m. and the junior varsity at 4:30 p.m.

Norwin coach Kyle Martin said the Knights will have 10 girls in the event.

“They took ninth at the Beast,” Martin said. “Powerade is a lot stronger. I’m eager to see how they finish.”

The four Norwin girls to be seeded were Josephine Dollman (fifth at 136), Karsyn Champion (sixth at 148, Octavia Walker (sixth at 170) and Abigail Hewitt (second at 190).

There are 17 WPIAL teams and one Pittsburgh City League team competing in the tournament.

Pine-Richland has 17 girls entered, Canon-McMillan, Connellsville and Trinity 13. Norwin has 10 girls, Seneca Valley nine and Southmoreland and Burrell eight each.

Also entered are Kiski Area, Butler, Peters Township, Burgettstown, Mt. Lebanon, Laurel, Fort Cherry, Valley, Beaver and Brashear.

Also Wednesday

A record 38 teams will be participating in the 24th Southmoreland Holiday Classic beginning Wednesday. The tournament concludes Thursday.

This year’s tournament is the largest and strongest field in the history of the event.

It will feature some top teams, including Indian Lands, S.C.; Rockbridge, Va.; Fort LeBoeuf; Corry; Plum; United; Fox Chapel; Butler; McGuffey; Mt. Pleasant; Derry Area; Forest Hills; and Bedford.

Peters Township and Ringgold will be heading to Wheeling, W.Va., for the Wheeling Park Duals.

Kicking off Thursday

The annual Steve DeAugustino Holiday Classic, one of the oldest in the WPIAL, will be held at West Mifflin.

The teams entered include Beaver, Hampton, McKeesport, Penn Hills, Central Catholic, Riverview, South Park, Taylor Allderdice ad West Mifflin.

North Allegheny and Latrobe are skipping the Powerade Tournament and will head east to Bethlehem for the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic at Bethlehem Liberty.

Among the teams entered are Easton, Boyertown, Council Rock South, Nazareth, Parkland, Quakertown, Saucon Valley, Stroudsburg and North Penn.

Latrobe coach Mark Mears told his wrestlers to expect to be not liked.

“We’re excited to see some new faces,” Mears said. “The team is excited to face a lot of good wrestlers. This should help us down the road.”

Belle Vernon, Burgettstown, Jefferson-Morgan and Quaker Valley are competing in the MyHouse Trojan Wars at Chambersburg on Friday and Saturday.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell, Canon-McMillan, Connellsville, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Trinity, Waynesburg