Moon Area’s Haley Smarsh worked her way to the finals of the PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships Friday and will battle for the gold medal Saturday.
Smarsh was one of five West Hills wrestlers competing at the state meet Friday but was the only one to make it through to a championship match.
Smarsh, who placed sixth in last year’s state meet after having to default in her final two matches due to injury, needed just 22 seconds to vanquish Emily Sarr of Souderton in the quarterfinals of the 130-pound weight class. That vaulted her into the semifinals, where she faced Julissa Ortiz of Mariana Bracetti Academy.
There, Smarsh had to work a little longer – a minute and 14 seconds — before pinning Ortiz to set up a gold-medal match Saturday against Shannon Logue of Hershey.
Four other West Hills wrestlers – Montour’s Kristen Walzer in the girls meet and Moon’s trio of Bryce Thomas, Cael Yanek and Liam Costa in the boys meet – competed Friday and two of them remain alive for medal contention.
The top eight finishers in each weight class take home a medal.
Walzer, wrestling at 100 pounds, fell by a 10-2 major decision to McKenzie Astorino of Curwensville in Friday’s quarterfinal match, then defeated Julette Cuevas of Bellwood-Antis 16-1 by technical fall in the third consolation round. Walzer defeated Cidney Schaffer of Lackawanna Trail, 3-0, in the fourth consolation round to set up a match with Mia Nesbitt of Neshaminy in Saturday’s fifth consolation round with a berth in the third-place bout on the line.
Thomas lost his quarterfinal match at 107 by technical fall (15-0) to Jacob Carr of Sun Valley and then dropped down to consolation round 3, where he decisioned Walker Martin of Conestoga, 2-0. Thomas then moved on to face Maximus Quarry of Notre Dame in the fourth consolation round and suffered a 5-2 loss.
Thomas will meet Elijah Foltz of Palmyra Saturday for seventh place.
At 133, Yanek topped Charlie Griffin of Wilson in consolation round 2, but fell to Drew Scherer of Boiling Springs, 9-6, in consolation round 3 and was eliminated.
At 172, Costa posted a 10-0 major decision over Xayden Sallit of Emmaus in consolation round 2, but then was eliminated with a 12-8 loss to Christian Burd of Hershey in consolation round 3.
Moon coach Mike Muraco said his group put up a tough fight all the way around.
“There was a lot of effort today,” he said. “Things didn’t go Cael and Liam’s way, but this is the state tournament, and anything goes here.
“I’m happy for Bryce and Haley for making it onto the podium. It would be great to see them finish with wins (Saturday).”
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