Moon’s Haley Smarsh and Kristen Walzer of Montour both struck gold Saturday, as they finished atop their respective weight classes at the WPIAL Girls Individual Wrestling Championships, held at North Allegheny High School.
Smarsh, a champion for the second straight year, won three straight matches by pin before posting a 12-1 major decision over Plum’s Saphia Davis in the 130-pound finals.
Davis won last year’s 124-pound WPIAL title but moved up in weight.
Walzer, who finished second in last year’s WPIAL tournament, went unbeaten in three matches at 100 pounds. She blanked top seed Blythe Letters of Shaler, who was seeded one notch ahead of Walzer, 7-0 in the championship match.
In Smarsh’s championship match, she jumped ahead 3-0 in the opening period with a takedown and after Davis cut it to 3-1, Smarsh used another takedown to expand her lead to 6-0 in the second.
The Moon sophomore then put the match away by piling up six more points in the final period against Davis, who had posted one pin and a pair of technical falls to reach the finals.
Smarsh started her day by pinning Paige Mehlhoff of Shaler in just 28 seconds, then followed by pinning Lynnsey Ashby of Trinity at 58 seconds of their quarterfinal match.
In the semifinals, Smarsh needed a little more time before subduing Juliana Van Slyke of Mt. Lebanon at 2:17.
Walzer opened her day by pinning Penn Hills’ Emily Durrant at 1:16 and then posted a 19-5 major decision over Natalia Clem of Canon-McMillan in the semifinals.
Carlynton’s Ariel Willie lost 8-3 to Pine Richland’s Dixie Schauer in her only match at 130 pounds.
The top five or six finishers from each weight class will compete at the PIAA West Regional at North Allegheny on Saturday, March 1, with the top four wrestlers in each weight class moving on to the PIAA Individual Championships, set for March 6-8 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
The West Regional will feature competitors from PIAA Districts 7, 8 and 9.
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