Triple Crowns, Team Titles and National Shockwaves as Girls Wrestling Takes Over PowerAde and Wonder Women

From Taina Fernandez’s Triple Crown brilliance in Pennsylvania to Broken Arrow’s dominant run in Missouri, elite girls wrestlers capped the holiday break with statement performances at PowerAde and The Wonder Women

Taina Fernandez of Archbishop Spalding (MD) poses with her younger brother, after becoming one of three wresters to win the first girls' Triple Crown belts for claiming titles at Women of Ironman, Beast of the East and PowerAde in the same season. / Trini Navia

Over the seemingly infinite week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, there were two big-time ladies wrestling tournaments that took place in Pennsylvania (PowerAde) and Missouri (The Wonder Women).

Fernandez, Lasure and Solomon Complete Triple Crowns at PowerAde

The finals of the Girls’ PowerAde Tournament occurred on Sunday, December 28th at Canon-McMillan High School. In the fall it was announced that the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) created a Women’s Triple Crown that would be awarded to girls who won titles at the Women of Ironman, Beast of the East, and PowerAde.

Three ladies achieved that goal: Taina Fernandez (Archbishop Spalding, MD), Violette Lasure (Chestnut Ridge, PA), and Marlee Solomon (Canon-McMillan).

Fernandez is used to collecting awards and honors of varying degrees of prestige. Adding the Triple Crown to her trophy case was something new for Fernandez to chase, which was great for a wrestler that thrives on pushing the boundaries, as her back-to-back World Championships attest.

Fernandez is rated No. 1 in the nation at 140 pounds by High School on SI and met the unranked Ava Golding of Pennsylvania’s Kiski Area in the 142-pound finals. Golding was the only foe that was not decked by Fernandez as she was the victim of a 15-0 technical fall. The juniors first three matches didn’t last two minutes total with pins of 46 seconds, 27, and 29 seconds.

Lasure is the top-ranked 145-pound girl in the country and while she spent a little more time on the mat, Lasure pinned her rivals ahead of the finals like Fernandez but added a 24 second fall in the 148-pound finals over the hosts’ Alaya Henderson. Two pins in 48 seconds and 1:08 delivered Lasure to the encounter with Henderson.

Canon-McMillan Delivers Team Title on Home Mat

The Big Macs did crown two champions and one of them, Solomon, grabbed one of those Triple Crowns when she stuck Shippensburg, Pennsylvania’s Olivia Kearns (No 28 at 115 pounds) in the middle of their 118-pound final in 2:34. Two techs and two pins were collected by Solomon as she marched to the finals.

Yunuen Ayala kept the 124-pound wall chart from leaving the building with her 9-3 decision of Caitlin Rankin (Riverbend, Virginia). Ayala’s and Solomon’s efforts helped power their squad to the team title over Tennessee’s Cleveland, 171.5-139.

In addition to Henderson’s silver, three other Big Mac Ladies stepped on the podium, Audrey Calgaro (3rd at 170 pounds), Landon Ellis (4th at 235), and Giana Wingfield (6th at 190 pounds).

Quakertown, Pennsylvania’s No. 13 Caroline Hattala claimed the 190-pound gold with a 5-0 blanking of No. 14 Alaina Claassen (Plum, Pennsylvania). Hattala won a Beast crown before Christmas but did not attend Ironman, so there was no Triple Crown awaiting her. Teammate, No. 24 Ashley Stank replicated Hattala’s score versus Stafford, Virginia’s Julie Gatto at 106 pounds.

Upsets and Breakthroughs Shake the Brackets

Two big upsets occurred during the championship bouts as No. 20 Haley Smarsh (Moon, Pennsylvania) shocked No. 4 Caroline Hilton of Cleveland, 12-8, to win the 130-pound crown. Unranked McKenzie Astorino of Curwensville, Pennsylvania, also scripted an unhappy ending for a girl from Cleveland when she edged No. 23 Easton Dadiomoff, 3-2, at 100 pounds.

Cleveland did head home with one champion in Senna Grassman (No. 14 at 115 pounds), who won a tight one at 112 pounds against Iris Reitz (Redbank, PA), 7-6.

Mt. Lebanon of Pennsylvania’s third-place effort was spurred on by No. 13 Camilla Hathaway winning the 155-pound title on a second period flattening of Sawyer Ward (Science Hill, TN) (No. 33 at 170 pounds). Ward handled No. 15 Juliet Alt (Chestnut Ridge), in the semifinals, 4-1.

Steubenville, Ohio has a champion after No. 15 Talea Guntrum stuck Stafford’s Abigail DeBerry, 2:37, into their 136-pound final. Abby Rudabaugh (Buckhannon-Upshur, West Virgina) is the 235-pound champ following a pin with one second left in the opening frame, 1:59, over Zoey Murphy (Southmoreland, PA). Northwestern of Pennsylvania had the final gold medalist in Cydney Rea, who won the 170-pound title bout, 6-3, over Kiski Area’s Alyssa Tresco.

Broken Arrow Cruises to Wonder Women Team Crown

The Wonder Women affair had no extra frills attached to it as PowerAde did with the Triple Crowns handed out. It also lacked team drama as the Women of Ironman Champions, Broken Arrow of Oklahoma easily outpaced KC Stampede Champs, Nixa of Missouri, 269-167.5 points.  

Battle High School in Columbia, Missouri provide the setting for The Wonder Women to engage in their antics with the champions being crowned on Tuesday the 30th of December.

With a huge point advantage going into the finals, the Girls of Broken Arrow could relax and just wrestle during the final round as the team race was already over and it was now time to worry about individual glory.

Stars Rise, Rankings Shift

Two completed their title runs as No. 21 Kyah Leyba (130 pounds) and No. 14 Emily Beckley (145) stood atop the awards stand. Leyba took down Nixa’s Addison Harkins, 12-6. Beckley stuck Leann Cory (Collinsville, IL) in 1:27. Cory upset Nixa’s Kamryn Bourbon (No. 23 at 155) on a 4:36 fall in the semis.

Tiffany Breshears was a runner-up at 135 pounds for Broken Arrow. Unranked Alina Peralta was third at 105 with a win in her placement match over No. 26 Juliana Tice (North Kansas City, MO) on a pin in 5:00. Placing fifth were Sophia Reece (110 pounds), Brooklyn Church (120), Sophie Donaho (140 pounds), and Reyleigh Liles (190). Placing eighth were Cali Bittner (155 pounds) and Sonora Reece (170).

An Oklahoman authored one of the three surprising outcomes of the gold medal bouts as Stillwater’s Mya Dobrinski squeezed by No. 25 at 170 pounds, Addeline Graser (Omaha Westside, NE), 4-3, in the 155-pound finals.

The 170-pound weight class saw the favored wrestler win the finals match involving two ladies from Kansas, with No. 22 Kiley Dillow defeating No. 23 Siobhan Flanner (Shawnee Mission South), 4-1. To have that dance, they both upset grapplers from Tennessee in the semis, Dillow downed No. 18 Sally Johnson (Clarksville), 13-9, and Flanner got the best of No. 19 Irelynn Laurin (West Creek), on a 4:55 fall.

The third unexpected champ may have changed that perception with her KC Stampede performance where she picked off No. 2 Landri Von Gonten (The Woodlands, TX). We have not updated our rankings since then, so while Ariel Biggs (Fort Osage, MO) was unranked then, she certainly would be after the win over Von Gonten.

The 140-pound finals win against Keeley Fallert (Ste. Genevieve, MO), who is ranked 15th at 145, that went into overtime with a 20-17 count, may or may not have been an upset, especially with Fallert coming down from 145 pounds. All this action will be applied to our next Girls’ Rankings update which will come before the boys next week.

Missouri, Illinois, and the Midwest Stake Their Claim

Two squads from Missouri posted two titlists each, Kearney and Liberty.

Kearney’s No. 15 Zolah Williams (105 pounds) smoked Festus, Missouri’s Addison Cupp with a 15-0 tech fall in 4:22. No. 8 Carli Vargas (190) used a 9-4 decision of No. 23 Kendall Angelo (Oak Park, MO).

Liberty’s two are also nationally ranked, No. 8 Lilly Breeden (100 pounds) and No. 9 Alexis Stinson (235). Breeden was one-point shy of a tech fall in her bout against No. 20 Naiya Delos Santos (Taylor County, KY) that ended with a 14-0 tally. Stinson stuck No. 23 Sophiea Quinn (Lebanon, MO) in the final period, 4:52.

Missouri had one more girl stake a claim to gold at 125 pounds with Francis Howell’s Anna Bowles winning a 2-0 showdown with North Kansas City’s Temperance Lowe.

Three from Illinois head home as gold medalists, No. 11 Chloe Skiles (Roxana), No. 4 Angelina Gochis (Kaneland), and Stella Piazza (Hampshire). All three won rather easily with Skiles having the closest match that resulted in a 7-0 score over Kayleigh Milam (Jackson, MO).

Gochis teched Odessa, Missouri’s Aaliyah Sanders 20-4. Piazza threw up the only pin of the group in 4:35 versus Clarksville’s Tatiana Pena-Corona.

The final champ hails from Wisconsin, No. 17 Lillie Banks of Menasha won decked Broken Arrow’s Breshears at the 2:33 mark of their 135-pound title match. Banks also pinned No. 23 Jauzlyean Gray (Fort Osage) in 5:06 of the semifinal meeting.