The Wyoming Valley Conference will bring back two awards from this weekend’s PIAA Wrestling championships, both earned in the first-ever Girls state tournament.
Sierra Ripka from Nanticoke Area and Alahna Morris from Lake-Lehman ended their seasons with fourth and sixth place finishes on Saturday at Giant Center in Hershey.
Ripka progressed further than any other WVC wrestler this weekend, reaching Friday night’s semifinals at 170 pounds before moving to the consolation bracket.
On Saturday, Ripka began her day with a win in the consolation semis, pinning York Suburban’s Anhela Imorhoa in 2:23 to reach the third-place match. There, she was defeated by Audrey Calgaro from Canon-McMillan to finish the weekend in fourth place.
Morris, the District 2 champ at 148 pounds, also started Saturday in the consolation semifinals. An 11-4 decision loss there dropped Morris into the fifth-place match, where she was pinned by Northwestern Lehigh’s Katie Brensinger.
Ripka and Morris, along with Honesdale’s Saige Olver and Western Wayne’s Sara Shook, were District 2’s four medalists in the first Girls tournament.
The WVC did not win any medals in the 2A and 3A tournaments, but the Lackawanna League managed to win six medals in the 3A competition, with Caleb Marzolino from Abington Heights earning the silver medal.
Marzolino made it to the state championship match but was pinned in the second period by Dillon Bechtold from Owen J. Roberts High School.
Abington Heights won three medals, with Marzolino earning silver, Brian Heard taking fifth place at 172 pounds, and Mason Whitney finishing seventh at 121 pounds. They finished 10th in the team standings.
Tyson Cook from West Scranton took fourth place at 121 pounds, and teammate Michael Turi finished seventh at 133 pounds.
The final District 2 medal was awarded to Gunnar Myers from Wallenpaupack, who finished sixth at 160 pounds.