The first season of Abington Heights girls wrestling resulted in an individual state runner-up.
Freshman Hayden Manning reached the final and settled for second place at 155 pounds in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Individual Wrestling Championships Thursday through Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Manning finished the season at 34-3 with 23 pins and six technical falls.
In Hershey, the District 2 champion and Central Region third-place finisher, started with a pin of Hickory’s Trinity Webster in 5:15.
Manning reached the final with back-to-back major decisions. She defeated Emma Beavan from Cumberland Valley 11-3 in the quarterfinals and Olivya Kroope from Emmuas 9-0 in the semifinals.
Violette Lasure from Chestnut Ridge pinned Manning in 4:48 of the final.
Manning scored 22 team points, leaving Abington Heights in 26th place out of 129 teams that qualified at least one wrestler for the state tournament.
Quakertown won the team title 76-68 over Mount Lebanon. Hazleton Area outscored Abington Heights by two points to finish tied for 24th, leading District 2 entries.
Lackawanna Trail tied for 76th with seven points as it also had a freshman, and its only entry, earn a state medal.
Cidney Schaffer took eighth at 100 pounds despite suffering her only three losses of the year in 16 bouts against girls competition.
Schaffer lost to Neshaminy’s Mia Nesbitt by pin in 3:06.
In the consolation bracket, Schaffer won her first two bouts by pin. The district and regional champion stopped Big Spring’s Charlotte Barrick in 2:38 and Central Dauphin’s Kate Hollinger in 3:40.
Kristen Walzer from Montour needed overtime to defeat Schaffer 3-0, dropping her into the seventh-place match where she was pinned by Southern Lehigh’s Cambria Leshko in 52 seconds.
