Pennsylvania Blue Claims Girls Junior National Duals Title, Wisconsin Wins 16U Crown

Wisconsin came into the Junior National Freestyle Final at the Women’s National Duals with some serious momentum as they won their preliminary pool and swept their way to the final with three wins in the Gold/Silver Pool B. Their 16U Sisters gave the older girls a jolt when they came from behind to win the 16U National Title at the Grand Parks Events Center in Westfield, Indiana.

Freestyle competition concluded Thursday, with the 16U championship preceding the Junior final. The 16U girls’ final preceded the Juniors, who closed the tournament. Pennsylvania Blue denied Wisconsin a sweep of the Junior and 16U titles with a dominant second-half surge in the Junior final.

Pennsylvania Blue Pulls Away In Junior Final

Pennsylvania showed it was vulnerable with a Gold/Silver Pool A loss to Colorado, 37-34. They followed that with a win over Ohio Blue, 39-36. Ohio Blue tripped up Colorado in their first match and the tiebreaker went the Pennsylvania way and once they were in the big dance, they left little doubt about who was the best, winning 10 of the 16 matches in a 44-31 victory over Wisconsin.

It was tied at 14 when Brenda Banks (No. 5 at 235 pounds in the latest High School On SI Girls’ National Rankings) came out to face Izabella Riebe. Banks struck first, but the unranked Riebe showed some fight and gained a takedown of her own before Banks turned her lights out with a leg trip to the back for the fall in 3:37 to give Pennsylvania a lead they would hold onto, 19-14.

Three more Blue Ladies dropped techs on the board to build upon Banks’ big move, which coincided with the turn around to the little ladies as No. 21 No. 21 Malaina Comfort (95), No. 31 Brooklyn Henry (100) and No. 1 Jaclyn Bouzakis (105) picked up the bonus points.

Comfort hit Rayany Clapier with a 10-0 slaughter in 1:46. Henry also put down a 10-0 score with Hers arriving in 2:39 versus Ellie Hultman. Bouzakis threw up a 14-1 tally against No. 26 Cassidy O’Connell to leave the Pennsylvania ladies with a comfortable margin of 31-15.

At 110 pounds, No. 28 Dilynn Albrecht ran an Arm Bar on Holly McKinney to give Wisconsin a much-needed win with the maximum five points attached to it after the 33 second pin. They were down by 11 (31-20) with five bouts left but were favored in just the final two.

Pennsylvania made good where they were supposed to and took the next three to lock down the national championship. The final run started with No. 9 Morgan Hyland at 120 pounds and her 12-1 tech of No. 24 Devlynn Albrecht that was secured with a headlock.

At 120 pounds, No. 2 Marlee Solomon almost let No. 13 Angela Bianchi out of the first period but did enough to earn the tech, 12-1, with seven seconds left, 2:53. Solomon’s points put it out of reach for Wisconsin. Even if they pinned out, Wisconsin would come up two points short unless Pennsylvania was to lose points somehow.

With the math saying it was basically over, No. 10 Raenah Smith eliminated the possibility of some wild outcome popping up at the end by winning a 7-4 decision versus No. 25 Kylee Kurszewski in the 125-pound match.

The expected results followed from there, as did the ones favoring Wisconsin, as they closed the dual with consecutive wins to tighten the score up with No. 5 Madilyn Peach (130 pounds) defeating No. 9 Neve O’Byrne by tech, 14-3, and No. 6 Carley Ceshker (135) duplicating Peach’s 14-3 count over No. 33 Zoe Furman.

Pearson Sparks Pennsylvania With Early Upset

Pennsylvania opened the dual with an absolute shocker from Sarah Pearson (No. 38 at 145 pounds) when she went full-throttle on No. 4 Harlow Skenandore and put up a mind boggling 13-3 technical fall at 140 pounds, in which Pearson was up 8-0 at the break.

Wisconsin got one back, but nowhere nearly as dramatic, with Stella Pettitt blanking No. 41 Jameson Strickland, 6-0, at 145. Pennsylvania got back in the upset column with Olivya Kroope’s 51 second sticking of No. 34 Emersyn Miller with a cradle at 155 pounds.

At 170 pounds, No. 4 Ciyanna Okocha used an Arm Bar to deck No. 22 Kimura Segerson-Hutter in 1:16 for a 14-4 lead. Wisconsin clocked back-to-back pins from No. 1 Brook Huffman (190 pounds) and Autumn King (207) to arrive at the 14-14 tie.

In addition to beating Ohio Blue in the Gold/Silver Rounds, Pennsylvania handled Missouri Blue, 48-26. Pennsylvania had an exciting Pool A Final with California Gold, ending in a 40-34 favorable outcome. The other two wins in their initial pool came against Kansas (58-16) and North Dakota Gold (57-14).

Pennsylvania Standouts Earn All-Tournament Honors

Three Pennsylvania wrestlers finished unbeaten and earned All-Tournament Team honors – Banks, Okocha, and Solomon. Banks and Okocha – were 7-0 and Solomon worked to a 6-0 record. Banks authored a big-time upset of No. 1 Deionna Borders, 6-0, in the Ohio Dual.

Bouzakis suffered a loss no one saw coming to No. 6 Emma Faczak versus Colorado, 16-14. Comfort was also 6-1 as was Furman and Pearson. Comfort’s setback came opposite No. 5 Lilly Lundy (Colorado).

Furman beat three girls ranked ahead of her with her sole loss coming in the final match with Wisconsin. Furman's wins included victories over No. 14 Kaison Miller (Kansas), No. 21 Kate Doughty (Colorado), and No. 22 Talea Guntrum (Ohio).

Pearson had posted a huge win over No. 16 Eva Garcia of California and No. 30 Auston Brown (Missouri) before leaving Skenandore wondering what happened. Pearson’s hiccup came on an 11-5 decision involving No. 6 Vivienne Gitke (Colorado).

Hyland and Smith were 5-1 with Hyland dropping a match to the girl who sits ahead of her in the rankings, No. 8 Jayin Cuevas (Colorado) and Smith’s coming against the nation’s top rated 125-pounder, California’s Me’Kala James. A 5-2 record was tabulated by Henry that contains a pin of No. 21 Ella Thomas (Ohio). Henry’s losses were to No. 3 Justice Gutierrez (CO) and No. 5 Lilly Breeden (MO).

O’Byrne was 4-2, Strickland went 4-3, and Kroope finished at 3-4. Strickland had upset wins over No. 34 Keely Fallert (MO) and No. 35 Maia Dolinar (KS).

Wisconsin Completes Dramatic 16U Comeback

Wisconsin nearly completed a historic double, winning the 16U championship just hours before reaching the Junior final. Two National Titles in one day, in a span of a few hours, would have been legendary. Spoken about for years.

And while that feat can never be spoken of, one that can be is the 13-point hole Wisconsin dug itself out of to capture the 16U Glory.

A stretch where California Gold won six of seven bouts left the score in their corner, 30-17. The comeback began at 110 pounds when No. 31 Alexa Thomas (110 pounds) being the first of the five girls who orchestrated a monumental bounce back.

Thomas posted a 6-0 score versus Sophia Toscano. Unranked Cora Stewart (115 pounds) was a hero for her counterparts with an 8-3 win versus No. 37 Isabella Fodera. Ember Zupanc collected a fall at 120 pounds and once No. 33 Morgan Johnson walked off victorious at 125 pounds on a 4-1 decision of Juliet Martin, Wisconsin was down by just one point, 32-31.

The 130-pound match ended before anyone had any heart palpitations or other stress related conditions as Ramsey Brandenburg used a Double Underhook trip to the back and put Sydney Tarlow away in 19 seconds of their title deciding match, which ended 36-32 for Wisconsin.

Wisconsin came out strong off the whistle but faded as the upper weights came to pass. After losing the first match, Wisconsin won three in a row to go up 12-4.

Kate Davidson (140 pounds), Sevanna Hoyer (145), and No. 29 Brynlee Vaughan (155) were responsible for the points. The California comeback started next with Sophia Lopez (170 pounds) and Tiffany Bell (190) getting them within two at 13-11.

Mercedes Kruse extended the Wisconsin lead to 16-12 after beating Tasi Maumausolo Matagi, 8-1, at 207 pounds. California answered with three nationally ranked girls over the next four weights, with all being Golden State wins, and unfortunately, their last ones as well.

At 235 pounds, No. 19 Taya Maumausolo Matagi won by fall as did Mackenzie Amidon at 95 pounds. The 100-pound match was a showdown of two ranked ladies in No. 13 Olivia Munson and No. 25 Mya Beckett. Munson edged Beckett, 6-5. A pin by No. 10 Sophia Lazaro closed the window of hope for California.

Full Brackets and Box Scores.

Junior FS - Junior FS Gold/Silver

1st - Pennsylvania Blue, PA

2nd - Wisconsin, WI

3rd - Indiana Gold, IN

4th - Ohio Blue, OH

5th - Colorado, CO

6th - Michigan Blue, MI

7th - California Gold, CA

8th - Missouri Blue, MO

Junior FS - Junior FS Gold/Silver

Pennsylvania Blue 44, Wisconsin 31

140: Sarah Pearson, PA BL over Harlow Skenandore, WI (TF 13-3 (5:14))

145: Stella Pettitt, WI over Jameson Strickland, PA BL (Dec 6-0)

155: Olivya Kroope, PA BL over Emersyn Miller, WI (F 0:51)

170: Ciyanna Okocha, PA BL over Kimura Segerson-Hutter, WI (F 1:16)

190: Brooke Huffman, WI over Sierra Ripka, PA BL (F 0:23)

207: Autumn King, WI over Noelani Knott, PA BL (F 1:42)

235: Brenda Banks, PA BL over Izabella Riebe, WI (F 2:37)

95: Malaina Comfort, PA BL over Rayany Clapier, WI (TF 10-0 (1:46))

100: Brooklyn Henry, PA BL over Ellie Hultman, WI (TF 10-0 (2:39))

105: Jaclyn Bouzakis, PA BL over Cassidy O'Connell, WI (TF 14-1 (1:18))

110: Dilynn Albrecht, WI over Holly McKinney, PA BL (F 0:33)

115: Morgan Hyland, PA BL over Devlynn Albrecht, WI (TF 12-1 (3:34))

120: Marlee Solomon, PA BL over Angela Bianchi, WI (TF 12-1 (2:53))

125: Raenah Smith, PA BL over Kylee Kurszewski, WI (Dec 7-4)

130: Madilyn Peach, WI over Neve O'Byrne, PA BL (TF 14-3 (5:05))

135: Carley Ceshker, WI over Zoe Furman, PA BL (TF 14-3 (2:52))

16U FS - 16u Freestyle Gold/Silver

1st - Wisconsin, WI

2nd - California Gold, CA

3rd - Pennsylvania Blue, PA

4th - Illinois, IL

5th - Washington, WA

6th - Ohio Blue, OH

7th - Iowa, IA

8th - Oklahoma, OK

16U FS - 16u

Wisconsin 36, California Gold 32

135: AlexAndrea Corona, CA GO over Maliha Hamidou, WI (Dec 3-2)

140: Katie Davidson, WI over Anika Bittner, CA GO (TF 10-0 (3:19))

145: Sevanna Hoyer, WI over Abigail Gomez, CA GO (Dec 4-2)

155: Brynlee Vaughan, WI over Helene-Lee Acuna, CA GO (TF 10-0 (1:56))

170: Sophia Lopez, CA GO over Aaliyah Miller, WI (Dec 8-1)

190: Tiffany Bell, CA GO over Bryn Schmidt, WI (TF 10-0 (4:00))

207: Mercedes Kruse, WI over Tasi Maumausolo Matagi, CA GO (Dec 8-1)

235: Taya Maumausolo Matagi, CA GO over Brielle Soto, WI (F 1:15)

95: Mackenzie Amidon, CA GO over Bronte Bethel, WI (F 3:29)

100: Olivia Munson, CA GO over Mya Beckett, WI (Dec 6-5)

105: Sophia Lazaro, CA GO over Penelope Ayala, WI (F 1:09)

110: Alexa Thomas, WI over Sophia Toscano, CA GO (Dec 6-0)

115: Cora Stewart, WI over Isabella Fodera, CA GO (Dec 8-3)

120: Ember Zupanc, WI over Aya Yoshitake, CA GO (F 3:59)

125: Morgan Johnson, WI over Juliet Martin, CA GO (Dec 4-1)

130: Ramsey Brandenburg, WI over Sydney Tarlow, CA GO (F 0:19)

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