Wagner Advances into Girls State QuarterFinals
By Joe Walker
HERSHEY- The path to a PIAA girls state wrestling title continues for the Central Mountain Lady Wildcats’ Kendall Wagner, as the Bucktail sophomore pinned her way into the PIAA Girls State Tournament quarterfinals at the Hershey Giant Center Thursday afternoon.
Wagner (19-4) pinned the West Regional third-place finisher, Olivia Shultz (Fr, 19-13) of Connellsville in 3:31 of their 170 pound first round match. After a scoreless first period, which Shultz was warned for stalling, Shultz started the second period off with an escape. Wagner received a penalty point, as Shultz was again called for stalling to tie it at 1-1. Wagner then brought Shultz down to her back and recorded the fall in 1:31 of the second period.
In the championship quarterfinals, Wagner will face southeast regional fourth place finisher Maya Kreiger (Jr, 22-12) of Bensalem, who won a 5-4 decision over south central region champion Veronica Guise (Jr, 21-5) of Cumberland Valley.
If Wagner wins the bout with Kriger she will advance to the championship semifinals and will win a spot on the awards podium. If she loses that quarterfinal round bout, she will drop down into the consolation second round, where if she wins just one bout, she will be a medal winner.
As for other local girls competing at the state tournament, Bald Eagle Areas’ Grace Crestani (Jr, 22-11) advanced into the quarterfinals by recording a fall in 4:41 over southeast regional runner-up Daniella Maxwell (So, 19-14) of North Penn. In the quarterfinals, Crestani will face west region champ Natalie Rush (Jr, 32-2) of Canon-McMillan.
The Lady Eagles Eden Eveleth (Jr, 23-7) lost a 7-0 decision to southeast region runner-up Reese Dewar (Fr, 8-3) of Garnet Valley at 106 pounds. The Lady Eagles’ Angelina Grieb (Sr, 12-4) lost by tech fall to southeast region runner-up Katie Brensinger (Sr, 6-1) of Northwestern Lehigh at 148 pounds.
The lone Jersey Shore Lady Bulldog Isabella Gotschall (Fr, 16-5) was pinned in 2:44 by southeast region third place finisher Bryce Snyder (So, 17-5) of Palisades at 190 pounds. So Eveleth, Grieb and Gotschall all drop in the first round of consolations.
The championship quarterfinals will get underway Friday morning at 11:45, as the second round of consolations will follow at 1:15 pm. The first round consolation winners will wrestle the quarterfinal round losers in the second round of consolations. All winners in that second round consolations can finish no worse than eighth place and will get to be on the medals podium.
