High School Tournament Preview

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Spring Mills Kaylie Hall and the Lady Buccaneers from Buckhannon-Upshur High School headline the Sixth Annual West Virginia Girls State Wrestling Championship. Hall looks to become the state’s third Grand Slam Winner as she seeks her fourth state championship while Buckhannon looks to win its first state girls’ championship.

In the team race, Buckhannon will bring 10 wrestlers and 5 top seeds to the tournament as they look to dethrone Parkersburg South who brings 9 wrestlers and 4 top seeds. Parkersburg High and Musselman will also factor in the team race as Parkersburg will fill 10 of the 12 weight classes with 4 top seeds and Musselman has 9 entries and 3 top seeds.

Tyler Consolidated and Nicholas County are bringing seven wrestlers each which brings the total to six schools that would qualify as having teams by filling over half the weight classes. Ten of the over 50 schools attending are bringing five wrestlers, just one wrestler shy of being recognized as a team. They are Cabell Midland, East Hardy, Jefferson, Liberty Raleigh, Pikeview, Princeton, Ravenswood, Ripley and Shady Spring. There are nearly 200 wrestlers who entered for this year’s tournament, over 50 wrestlers more from last year’s event.

Kaylie Hall will attempt the rare Grand Slam Honor for her fourth title at 165 pounds and her top challengers will come from top seeds Olivia Blonn of Buckhannon, Cicely Cullins from Musselman and Leanna Reed of Princeton. The Senior Cullins is looking to hit for the cycle as she has finished fourth, third and second in her previous state tournament appearances. Other top contenders at 165 include Greenbrier East’s Makaylee Bennett, Hannah Parker of Princeton and Maggie Robinson of Calhoun County in the top half bracket, and Oak Hill’s Cheyla Keeney, Morgantown’s Jorja Hawkins and South’s Brenna Riggs in the bottom half bracket.

Nine other former state champions return and seek to add to their state titles count. Cabell Midland’s Senior Ale Evans wrestling at 100 pounds and 114 pounder Parkersburg South’s Junior Justice Anthony will be wrestling in Hall’s shadow as they seek their third state championship. They will be joined by 107 Annabell Ward of Cabell Midland, 120 pounders Kirclyn Coleman of Oak Hill and Parkersburg South’s Anniya Powell, Maya Garcia of Buckahnnon at 138, Washington’s Charlotte Kershisnik at 145, and 152 pounders Eliana Winfrey from Tyler Consolidated and Musselman’s Presley Hurlbrink.

Evans is favored to win her third title at 100 pounds and her top challengers appear to be #2 seed Allegra Keaton of Parkersburg South, #3 London Cook of Liberty Raleigh and #4 Kyleigh Morris of Calhoun County. Hurricane’s Maddy Whited, Franklin’s Anna Mendosa and Buckhannon’s Jenell Winters will also make a strong push to stand on Saturday’s podium,

Anthony has dropped to 114 pounds this season and is favored to win her third crown after winning the 120 pound title last year. It takes a rocket scientist to figure out the seeds after that and luckily the seeding committee is led by science teacher Robert St. Clair. Logan’s Daisy Tomblin received the second seed with Ripley’s Savannah Modrzakowski the third seed as they have split this past season. They will be joined in the bottom bracket with newcomer Amilia Riazi of Cabell Midland who placed in the Ladies of Iron Man Tournament. Challenging Anthony in the top bracket will be fourth seed Bailee Diehl of Berkeley Springs and returning placer Ava LeMasters of Cameron. Logan’s Anisty Vance, Parkersburg’s Raidyn Walker and Musselman’s Keira Ruppenthal has had good seasons and could also factor in the final placing.

The 120 pound class features two former champions in top seed Kirclyn Coleman of Oak Hill who won in 2023 and last years 114 pound champion Anniya Powell of Parkersburg South, the #2 seed. Looking to pull the upset will be #3 seed Delilah Rhoton of Berkeley Springs and #4 seed Karma Hedges of Parkersburg. Also looking to figure in the mix will be Greenbrier East’s Maya Frank, Morgantown’s Maddi Mazzoni, Ripley’s Destiny Steele and Nicholas County’s Journee Meadows.

The 152 pound class will also features two returning champions as top seed Eliana Winfrey of Tyler Consolidated moves up a weight class from winning the 145 pound title last year and goes against the 152 pound defending champion and #2 seed Presley Hurlbrink of Musselman. They will be pushed in the preliminary rounds by #3 seed Lylah Ketterman pf Buckhannon, #4 seed Haley London of Poca, while Parkersburg’s Diana Iaacs, South’s Kendra Richards, Pikeview’s Abby Hedrick, Raleigh’s Katie Mullins, and Gilmer’s Lilijana Richards bring strong resumes to town and look to contend.

Top seed Cabell Midland’s Annabell Ward returns to defend her title at 107 pounds. Her challengers in the top bracket will come from #4 seed Zoey Wolford of Morgantown with East Fairmont’s Kyra Hamilton, Riverside’s Rylee Payne, East Hardy’s Jacelyn Funk and Princeton’s Faith Morris looking to make some noise. The bottom bracket at 107 features #2 seed Ciara Eady of Shady Spring and Ripley #3 seed Lanie Knopp and also include contenders from Buckhannon’s Nicole Blandino and Jefferson’s Faith Fogelsong.

Defending champion Maya Garcia of Buckhannon returns to 138 pounds this year as the top seed. She will be joined in the top bracket by #4 seed Audrianna Medina of Parkersburg while they will be pushed by St. Mary’s Tara Scaggan, Berkeley’s Willow Rhoten, and Ripley’s Emily Dunlap. The bottom bracket at 138 features returning placers #2 seed Makenzie Hanshaw from Nicholas County, #3 seed Morganne Miiler of East Hardy, and state runner-up Olivia Junkins from South. They will be joined by University’s Toria Tower, Shady’s Madalynne Phillips and Tyler’s Miya Johnson.

Washington’s Charlotte Kershisnik looks to defend her title at 145 pounds this year after winning the 126 pound title last year. Her half of the bracket includes returning placer Abigail Honaker at the #4 seed as well as top contenders Abbie Blue from Jefferson and Shalen Moore of Braxton County. The bottom half at 145 includes returning placers #2 seed Lexi Ellis of Chapmanville and unseeded Anaston Carouthers of Wirt County, 3rd last year at 165. Parkersburg’s Cali Way has the third seed and is joined by Morgantown’s Naveah Feely-Mack and Raleigh’s Emma Hartshorn who has had successful seasons.

There will be at least four new champions crowned on Saturday as weight classes 126, 132, 185 and 235 will crown new champions.

At 126 pounds, University’s Bailey Emery returns to the Mountain State as the top seed and will be hard press by #2 seed Oliva Kershisnik of Washington. Pound for Pound they are both listed in the top ten wrestlers in West Virginia. Kershisnik would like to join older sister Charlotte as the first sisters to win Girls WV State Titles. Returning placer Amiya Powell received the #3 seed and would also like to join her older sister Anniya as a state champion. Shady’s Ambria Cook comes in as the #4 seed and she will be joined by East Hardy’s Gracie Heishamn, Nicholas County’s Rosa Hudkins, and Williamstown’s Annabelle Sandy in the hunt for final placing.

Freshman Ava Turner from Preston is the top seed at 132 pounds and is the top new face of the high school ranks earning a top five ranking in the Pound for Pound list after winning the National Powerade Tournament. Figuring out the rest of the seeds again takes a rocket scientist and could have fallen a number of ways. Becky Dowden of Man received the #2 seed followed by St. Albans Allie Brown at three and Musselman’s Kerrington Bennett at four. Other wrestlers considered for top seeding and can make a run for placing include university’s Allenna Blon, Nicholas County’s Zoee Meadows, Parkersburg’s Hailey Warman, and Princeton’s Talia Flack.

Returning State Runner-up Brooke Bennett of Princeton received the top seed at 185 pounds followed by Raleigh’s Allie Bowles at #2, Buckhannon’s Emma McGinnis at #3 and Tyler’s Chloe Dutton at #4. Other wrestlers looking to contend for a top placing include Jefferson’s Ainsley Phillips, Lincoln County’s Olivia Morales and Princeton’s Madison Fink-Miller,

No pun intended but our final weight class at 235 has no heavy favorite as a number wrestlers can walk away with the title. Ironically, the heavyweight division is also our smallest weight class with ten competitors. Top seeds Claire Holt of Princeton at #1 and #2 seed Abby Radabaugh has wins against each other and they will be hard press by Parkersburg’s Nevaeh Mason at #3 and Pikeview’s Cameron Seeley at #4. Also considered for seeding were South Charleston Autumn Lentz, East Hardy’s Madison Strosnider, and Musselman’s Katelyn Woodford and Shy’Lynn Carter. Wheeling Park’s Terionna Gibbons comes in as an unknown and Nicholas County’s Eliana Hite is also entered. Any of the above wrestlers can come away champion at 235 and it is one of the most balance weight class in the tournament.

A special shoutout to:
1) WVMAT Editor Jenny Hannan for promoting Girls Wrestling on the State Website.
2) Brian Emery of the Morgantown Area for organizing the State’s Pound for Pound Rankings and the State Team Competition at Border Wars.
3) Garrett Railing of Weirton for compiling the Girls State Champions Listing by Wrestler, Coach and Teams on the Girls State Tournament Page.
4) All the youth coaches for promoting and organizing girls wrestling events.
5) And finally the Ad Hoc Seeding Committee led by Girls State Tournament Director Rober St. Clair and included Region 1 Rep Levi Bender of Buckhannon, Region 2 Rep Steven Miller of East Hardy, Region 3 Rep Anthony Shrewsberry of Shady Spring, Region 4 Rep Chris Way of Parkersburg (State Rules Committee Liaison), and myself Brent Sams (editor of the Girls State Rankings).