This past weekend, on Saturday, March 2nd, in Milton, PA near Hershey, two of our West Branch students, Holly Schnarrs and Natalie Yingling, both competed at the Central Girls Regional wrestling tournament. This match was the first-ever Girls Regional Tournament in PIAA history. They both competed well and did a great job representing WB wrestling and the school district. Natalie concluded the tournament placing fifth, and Holly didn’t end up placing as she was disqualified for an unknown reason. Unfortunately, neither wrestler qualified for the PIAA wrestling state championships.

Two District 9 wrestlers advanced out of the Central Regional tournament on March 2 and will compete in the first-ever PIAA Girls Wrestling Championship. Leading the District 9 duo is Punxsutawney junior Jael Miller. Also qualifying for states was Bradford 142-pounder Shelby Shirley, a sophomore who has a record of 7-1. Though only the top four at each weight class advanced, a fifth-place bout was held in the event an alternate was needed. Curwensville junior Tessa Queen and sophomore Emily Neeper were fifth at 142 and 190 pounds, respectively. The top four schools D9 state qualifiers are Punxsutawney – 1st Bradford, Curwensville, Redbank Valley, and Clearfield. The PIAA Girls Wrestling Championship is scheduled for March 7-9 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Mr. Williamson has his own thoughts on the outcome of the students’ performance in recent matches along with their improvement, saying, “Coach Bainey and I are proud of the strides they made and improved as the season continued, and we hope they have a great offseason and will come back next season and make another run at qualifying for the PIAA wrestling championships.” If you don’t want to miss out and wish to see how the championships play out, come to the Giant Center in Hershey between March 7th and the 9th. Good luck, lady wrestlers!