H.S. GIRLS WRESTLING: CLINK LONE CHAMPION; SIX OTHERS PLACE TO LEAD ATHENS TO FOURTH PLACE AT QUEEN OF THE HIVE TOURNAMENT (2024-12-16)


WILDCATS CROWN FOUR CHAMPS IN JUNIOR HIGH TOURNAMENT

Valley Sports Report
HONESDALE, Pa. — Sophomore Joyce Clink was Athens' lone champ and one of seven wrestlers to reach the podium here Saturday in the Wildcats' fourth-place finish at the 2024 Queen of the Hive Tournament.

Clink was 4-0 — all via falls — to earn her 130-pound title, while junior Hanna Rathbun and sophomore Abigail Wagner were runners-up, senior Emma Renninger and sophomore Leah Nason were third-place finishers, and freshman Kendall Galasso and junior Haley Young each placed fifth in their weight classes.

Easton won the team title with 219.5 points, while Hughesville was second with 186.5 points, High Point was third with 159, Athens tallied 129.5 points, fifth-place Honesdale had 99.5 points, and sixth-place Towanda had 99 points.

Clink, who was unseeded, opened the day with a 34-second pin of Crestwood's Rylynn Buchanan, then pinned fourth-seeded Shaniece Brown of Hazelton Area in 1:31 in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Clink decked Easton's Jaime Castillo in 2:58.

In the finals, Clink scored an early takedown an turned in into a fall, pinning Hanover Area's third-seeded Kaidence Ankner in 1:14.

Rathbun was 4-1 to finish second at 136 pounds. She opened the day with a pin of Towanda's Ily Benjamin in 1:35, then decked Western Wayne's Breanna Wayland in 15 seconds.

In the quarterfinals, Rathbun pinned Wilkes-Barre Area's Hope Burke in 15 seconds, then forged a 19-3 technical fall win over Wallenpaupack's Alayna Atos in the semifinals.

In the finals, Rathbun lost an 18-4 major decision to Easton senior Aubre Krazer, who sports a 67-0 career record and a state title last year.

Wagner was 2-1 on the day to finish second at 170 pounds.

In the quarterfinals, Wagner decked Wilkes-Barre Area's Maura Obey in 39 seconds. She followed that up with a pin of Western Wayne's Addy Press in 1:23 in the semifinals.

In the finals, Wagner dropped a 9-2 decision to Nanticoke's Sierra Ripka.

Renninger, the second seed, went 4-1 on the day to finish third at 118 pounds.

Renninger opened the day with a 21-second pin of Executive Education Academy's Joelys Matos-Nunez, then pinned Hughesville's Bella Young in 3:35.

In the quarterfinals, Renninger lost a 20-5 technical fall to third-seeded Maiya Lang of East.

Renninger bounced back with a pin of Wallenpaupack's Madelyn Carter in 51 seconds in the consolation semifinals, then forged an 11-6 decision over Pocono Mountain West's Madison Clark in the third-place match.

Nason, the third seed, gave up an early takedown, but won via fall in 2:18 over Towanda's Shaylynn Morris in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Nason dropped an 8-0 major decision to second-seeded Jadyn Mikulak of Honesdale.

Nason bounced back with a pin of Nanticoke's Keira Landmesser in 1:57 in the consolation semifinals.

In the third-place match, Nason trailed Morris, 5-3, but prevailed in a fall at 4:08.

Young, the fourth seed, went 2-2 to finish fifth in the 190-pound bracket.

She opened with a 62-second fall over Pocono Mountain West's Alexa Ortiz.

In the semifinals, Young scored the initial takedown, but lost via second-period fall to top-seeded Taydem Sanchez of Wlikes-Barre Area in the semifinals.

Young lost via second-period fall to Western Wayne's Shauna Rodger in the consolation finals, then bounced back in the fifth-place match with a 10-9 win over Hughesville's Ava Swisher. Young scored a six-point move late in the second period to take a 10-6 lead.

Galasso went 3-2 to finish fifth in the 130-pound bracket.

Galasso opened with a pin of High Point's Leah Romash in 1:50, then edged second-seeded Soleil Wright of Wallenpaupack, 5-3, in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Galasso lost via second-period fall to Ankner, then lost via first-period fall to Brown in the consolation semifinals.

Galasso received a medial forfeit in the fifth-place match.

Freshman Alyssa Rinebold was 2-2 in the 100-pound bracket.

She lost her opening-round match to the top seed, then bounced back with back-to-back falls, before losing in sudden-victory in the blood round.

Sophomore Janaya Henrich lost her opening-round mach, but bounced back with back-to-back pins in the consolation bracket, before losing by fall to NEB's Ava Lambert.

Sophomore Kaylynn Kletz topped Pocono Mountain West's Kayla Perez, 8-5 in the opening round, then lost via technical fall in the round-of-16.

Kletz bounced back with a 57-second pin in her first wrestleback match, but was eliminated by fall in her next bout.

Freshman Memphis Paul was 2-2 in the 148-pound bracket. After losing her opening-round match to the second seed, Paul bounced back with back-to-back falls, before being eliminated via fall.

Freshman Hailey Brinkley was 1-2 in the 100-pound bracket, with her lone win an 11-8 decision over Towanda's Hailey Harbst in the consolation bracket.

Freshman Annika Lezak (136 pounds), freshman Ariel Christman (118)

WILDCATS CROWN FOUR CHAMPS IN JUNIOR HIGH TOURNAMENT
Athens crowned four champs — Chels Renninger, Evelyn Cummings, Mikayla Brinkley, and Skyline Payne — and one third-place finisher in Emma Firestone in a second-place finish at the 2024 Queen of the Hive junior high tournament.

Wallenpaupack won the team title with 122 points, edging out Athens by three points. Hughesville was third with 98 points, Valley View was fourth with 63 points, and Western Wayne was fifth with 50.5 points.

Renninger was 3-0, all via pin falls, to win the 135-pound title, and Cummings was 2-0, both by falls, to win the 200-pound crown.

Brinkley was 3-0 — two falls and a forfeit — to win the 125-pound bracket, and Payne was 3-0, including two pins in less than 30 seconds and an 8-7 win over Hughesville's Kenna Fisher in the semifinals.

Firestone lost her first match, but bounced back with three consecutive pins to finish third in the 117-pound bracket.

Elizabeth Brown was 0-2 at 165 pounds for the Wildcats.

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IN PHOTO: Athens' Joyce Clink. ... PHOTO PROVIDED.


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