Beast of the East, KC Stampede, Reno TOC Deliver Big Upsets and Champions in Girls Wrestling

From Choate Rosemary Hall’s team title in Delaware to Nixa’s breakthrough in Kansas City and Marina’s dominance in Reno, three major tournaments showcased rising stars, ranked shakeups, and statement wins across girls wrestling

Rhema Woolcock was one of three Choate Rosemary Hall wrestlers to place second at last week's Beast of the East, leading the Wild Bores to the girls team title. / Rhema Woolcock

High School on SI is going to take a quick three-stop spin around the country to highlight some of the best girls wrestling from this past weekend. We will begin in Newark, Delaware at Beast of the East then cruise westward with a stop in the Midwest for the KC Stampede in Kansas City, Missouri, before ending this voyage in Reno, Nevada and the Tournament of Champions.

Connecticut’s Choate Rosemary Hall wins Beast of the East title, Wyoming Seminary crowns three champions

Choate Rosemary Hall out of Connecticut marched to the team title at the 4th Annual Girls Beast of the East at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center on Friday evening. Choate Rosemary captured the top honor despite going 0-3 in the gold medal bouts, 163-128.5, over Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Seminary.

Choate Rosemary Hall’s three runners-up were No. 25 Sara McLaughlin (125 pounds), Chloe Ress (140), and Rhema Woolcock (235 pounds). Honorable Mention Lily Runez was third at 115 pounds. Tatianna Irizarry was fourth at 120, No. 15 Olivia Mancha finished sixth at 100 pounds, and Eva Tumayan landed in eighth at 190.

Wyoming Seminary saw three ladies reach the top of the podium, No. 19 Brooklyn Henry (100 pounds), No. 1 Jaclyn Bouzakis (105), and No. 4 Ciyanna Okocha (170 pounds).

Henry had little trouble with No. 27 Mia Nesbitt (Neshaminy, Pennsylvania) in her final before sticking her foe. Bouzakis rolled to a quick 19-4 technical fall of No. 7 Summer Mutschler (Archbishop Spalding, Maryland). Okocha gained her gold with a mild upset, 4-3, of No. 2 Olivia Georges (DePaul Catholic, New Jersey).

Speaking of Archbishop Spalding, their two-time World Champion, No. 1 Taina Fernandez, pocketed her third Beast title with a quick decking of Choate Rosemary’s Ress, 1:04.

In a manner more extreme than the boys of Pennsylvania claiming half their championships, the Keystone ladies dominated harder and locked down nine of the 14 titles on the slate.

In addition to the Seminary Girls, in the Golden Circle, were No. 5 Julia Horger (Conwell Egan), No. 12 Xuan Graham (Southern Lehigh), Garnet Valley’s No. 13 Neve O’Byrne, No. 1 Violette Lasure of Chestnut Ridge, Canon-McMillan’s No. 2 Marlee Solomon, and No. 13 Caroline Hattala (Quakertown).

Horger claimed the 110-pound championship with a pair of slight upsets, including a surprisingly easy time with No. 4 Isla Silva (Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania) in the finals with an 18-9 major decision. In the semis, Horger slayed No. 3 Gabrielle Conte of Hanover Park, New Jersey, 10-5.

Horger just lost to Conte at the Escape the Rock Tournament and was recently handled by Silva, 8-4, at Super 32. This was Horger’s second consecutive Beast crown, and in last year’s final she faced off with none other than Conte.

Graham was on the winning side of her 115-pound final with No. 11 Elle Changaris (High Point Regional, New Jersey) with an 8-0 major decision. O’Byrne came in ranked higher than McLaughlin at 125 pounds based on a 10-0 win at the Ultimate Club Duals.

Some other misfortunes have forced McLaughlin down the ranks, but at last year’s Beast, McLaughlin earned a crown with one of her wins coming over O’Byrne, 11-9. In this year’s final, O’Byrne was in the driver’s seat, though, dominating McLaughlin, before planting her in 3:31.

Lasure kept No. 12 Kesi Tsarni of Maryland’s Bullis School off the board in a 7-0 decision in the 145-pound final. Solomon took care of Xuan’s sister, No. 21 Mai Graham, with a 10-2 major decision in their 120-pound title bout. Hattala gained her 190-pound crown with a first-round fall of Toni Elliott (Phillips Academy, Massachusetts).

Two Jersey Queens secured gold medals, No. 1 Ella Poalillo (High Point Regional) and Giavonna Farrell-Byers (Howell). Poalillo, who is a World Silver Medalist, won her second title in a row on a pin of Mt. Lebanon’s No. 13 Camilla Hathaway in 5:22 of their 155-pound final. Hathaway scored the first takedown was up 3-2 in the third when it went off the rails for her.

Farrell-Byers also won by pin at 235 pounds, making it into the middle frame before turning the lights out on Choate’s Woolcock.

South Dade of Florida had a champ at 130 pounds in No. 10 Willow White, who won a 9-4 decision versus No. 20 Haley Smarsh (Moon Area, Pennsylvania). An all-Virginia final at 135 pounds was won by Stafford’s Abigail DeBerry, by fall against Fauquier’s Naima Rodriguez, 1:50.

Nixa’s two champs power their title winning effort at the KC Stampede

Nixa of Missouri’s two champions at the KC Stampede, was the difference between them and second place Garden City of Kansas, as Nixa only outpointed them by four, 189-185. Garden City had no champs.

Nixa’s Addison Harkins picked off No. 24 Dru Turner of Hinton, Oklahoma, 16-6, in the 130-pound final. Kamryn Bourbon (No. 23 at 155) was down at 145 pounds where she took care of No. 29 Ashley Thompson (Rogers, AR) with a 14-5 major decision.

Another Missouri squad, Liberty, also crowned two champions, No. 2 Lilly Breeden, who used a 12-2 major of Westmoore’s Kyrain Perez (No. 26 at 110) to claim the 100-pound crown.

No. 9 Alex Stinson stuck Macy Barber (Omaha Westside, Nebraska) in 1:33 at 235 pounds. To reach the gold medal match, Barber won a close one over No. 23 Sophiea Quinn (Lebanon, Missouri), 6-4, in the semis.

In all, ten from the host state wore crowns, but Westmoore out of Oklahoma was the only other team with multiple champions in No. 20 Kyrstan Perez (105 pounds) and Ranelle Smith (125). Perez authored a mild upset of No. 15 Zolah Williams (Kearney, Missouri), 5-4, in her final. Smith won an 8-3 decision over Garden City’s Marina Loera.

Nebraska got one gold with Omaha Westside’s No. 25 Addeline Graser (120 pounds) when she edged Texas’ No. 27 Aisha Williams Bautista (Lewisville Flower Mound), 7-6. Texas’ lone champ came from Rockwall with Leona Layne decking Ella Kimbrough (Lafayette, Missouri) in 5:10.

A notable Missouri happening occurred at 140 pounds when unranked Ariel Biggs of Fort Osage shocked No. 2 Landri VonGonten (The Woodlands, Texas) with an 8-6 semifinal win. Carthage’s Kaylee James, unranked herself by High School On SI, kept Biggs from enjoying a fairytale ending by snuffing out her dreams early on a 1:14 fall.

Another Missouri upset was scripted by No. 23 Kendall Angelo at 190 pounds when she blanked Kearney’s No. 8 Carli Vargas, 4-0.

Fort Osage did have one titlist in No. 23 Jauzlyean Gray, who used a pin in 2:54, to claim the 135-pound gold against Macey Jeffrey (Randall, Texas). The final champs were No. 24 Killian Evans (Blue Spring South, 110 pounds) and Ft. Zumwalt South’s Jena Gumahin (120). Both won tight matches, Evans beat North Kansas City’s Alissa Chanda, 12-10, and Gumahin got by Sydney Stifter (Belton, Missouri), 4-3.

Marina’s Girls win Reno Tournament of Champions with three champions

The Marina Ladies from California walked out of Reno carrying three wall charts along with the first-place team trophy by outgaining Gilroy on the scorecard, 218-158.5 points.

All three champs used pins to secure their victories.

No. 6 Aubree Storm Gutierrez worked into the final frame at 115 pounds before ending her match with California’s Paris Soria (Los Altos, No. 28 at 120) at the 5:42 mark. No. 27 Eva Garcia pinned Deer Park, Washington’s Hailee Orgill in the third period of her 155-pound match, 5:24. No. 15 Isabella Lorenzana spent the least amount of time on the mat of the trio with her 2:37 pin of Trinity Soares (Allen, Texas) at 235.

Gilroy’s two who captured their weight class glory were Tamara Grace (130 pounds) and Sarai Cortez (140). Grace, who is rated No. 2 at 135 pounds, endured a wild match with Marina’s Rianna Bernal that ended with a 12-10 count. Cortez won by fall in 3:32 versus a Marina girl, too, Mia Gil.

World Silver Medalist, Epenesa Ellison sits atop our 125-pound rankings but trotted out at 120 pounds in Reno and dominated Allen’s Grace Romans in the finals with a 19-3 tech. Anaheim, California’s Lily Balderas (No. 6 at 130 pounds) moved up to 132 and flattened No. 4 Kailin Sebert (Allen), 2:51.

Ponderosa’s No. 5 Justice Gutierrez gave Colorado one of its two gold medals as she decked Hillcrest, Utah’s Katie Zimmerman in the opening round, 1:29. Thunder Ridge’s Shauna Anderson accounted for the other, at 190 pounds, with a pin as well, in 1:17 over Ella Elordi (Eagle, Idaho).

Oregon was another state with two championships that were earned by Crater’s Audrey Robinson (145 pounds) and Lauren Echeverria of Crook County at 110 pounds. Robinson, who is ranked 11th at 140 pounds, was facing Pomona, Colorado’s Timberly Martinez (No. 17 at 155) and posted an 8-0 major decision. Echeverria won by a major as well, 18-4, versus River Klein (Douglas, Nevada).

Hillcrest’s No. 6 Eva Zimmerman won a battle of ranked rivals at 105 pounds, 10-1, over No. 21 Timmery Condit (Pomona). At 190, McQueen, Nevada’s Jasmine Morales pinned previously ranked Clarion Fager (Corner Canyon, Utah). Idaho’s Charlee Nash (Tri-Valley) was the final champ at 125 pounds, using a fall in 1:44 to subdue Brynlee Sorenson (Layton, Utah).