Hayden Manning from Abington Heights, Cidney Schaffer from Lackawanna Trail and Willow McDonnell from Scranton Prep all won individual tournament titles in girls wrestling during January.
Manning, one of five members of the all-freshmen inaugural Abington Heights varsity girls wrestling team, won two tournament titles. She is 23-1 with 14 pins and six technical falls.
Schaffer won her only girls’ tournament.
Abington Heights
Manning dominated many of her opponents, but also was able to pull out a dramatic victory when pushed to the limit in the 40-team Souderton Big Red Girls Invitational Jan. 9-10.
After advancing to the 170-pound championship match with two pins and a technical fall, Manning came up with a 9-6 win over Olivya Krooope from Emmaus in the sudden victory overtime period.
Manning led Abington Heights to a 28th-place team finish.
The Lady Comets also placed 10th of 19 teams at Wyoming Valley West Jan. 31 and 50th of 57 in the Coal Cracker Invitational at Jim Thorpe Jan. 16-17.
Manning won the title at Wyoming Valley West with technical falls in the quarterfinals and final at 170 and a pin in the semifinals.
Zoey Hearst was third at 118 by going 3-1 with two pins and a technical fall.
Manning’s only loss came in one of her six bouts at Jim Thorpe. She opened the Coal Cracker Invitational with three straight pins, lost in the semifinals, then used a pin and technical fall to secure third place.
Lackawanna Trail
The Lady Lions made their only appearance as a girls team when Schaffer and Payton Laytos entered the Southern Tier Memorial Tournament at the LECOM Event Center in Elmira, N.Y. Jan. 9-10.
Their efforts were enough for Lackawanna Trail to place 28th of 47 teams.
Schaffer pinned her four opponents in a combined 4:33 for the 100-pound title.
The freshman is also competing successfully for the boys’ team, going 19-9 at 107 pounds. Even excluding forfeits, she has won 13 of 21 bouts determined on the mat and has pinned nine opponents without being pinned.
Layton won a pair of bouts at 152 before being eliminated.
Scranton Prep
McDonnell won the 100-pound title at Wyoming Valley West, where she was the only Scranton Prep entry.
The sophomore had three pins, including in 2:25 against Hanover Area’s Claire Gyle in the final, and got past Nanticoke’s Matilda Serrano 8-7 in the semifinals.
McDonnell also had two quick pins to get to the 107-pound quarterfinals of the Southern Tier Memorial before losing twice and being eliminated.
The Classics finished 43rd in the 47-team field.
