By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports Report
WAVERLY — Junior Elona Holmes punched a return ticket to states with a runner-up finish, but 8th-grader Gianna Rylott came up just shy of her first trip to Albany as the duo led Waverly to a team title here Saturday at Section IV Girls Wrestling Championships.
Joining Holmes and Rylott on the podium were third-place finishers freshman Kennadie Cochrane and junior Emma Vanderhoof, fourth-place finisher 8th-grader Zieniuk, and fifth-place finisher sophomore Abi Reedy.
"I am incredibly proud of this team and all they have accomplished this year," said Waverly coach Devan Witman. "Our goal was to improve every single day and in the end we were able to show our improvement.
"It was bonus points that really did it for us," he noted. "Almost every girl won a match and almost every girl collected bonuses along the way.
"To win a tournament without a champion shows the heart and grit of this team," added Witman. "Nobody gave up; that's the culture we are trying to build."
Waverly won the team title with 114.5 points, edging out runner-up Horseheads, which had 109.5 points. Oneonta was third with 104 points, Chenango Forks was fourth with 103, and Groton was fifth with 99.5 points, while Tioga was seventh with 87.5 points, SVEC was 13th with 51.5 points, and Owego was 14th with 44.5 points.
Witman was pleased Waverly was able to host the Section IV Championships in its brand-new facility.
"I thought this was great for Section IV," he said. "Our brand-new facility is state-of-the-art. It's a great venue for these girls to showcase what they've done throughout the year.
"It was an awesome experience for our girls, and all of Section IV," added Witman.
Holmes, who was a sixth-place finisher at States as a freshman, opened her day with a 32-second pin of H-BG-S-U's Lilly Bagg in the quarterfinals, then pinned Oneonta's Leyland Wiltshire in 4:05.
In the finals, Holmes lost to top-seeded Teagan McGuinness of U-E via an 11-0 technical fall.
"Elona had a great tournament," said Witman. "She had a tough opponent that she's beaten before in the semifinals ... we reviewed the film, we knew what was going to work, and what we needed to stay away from — and she executed perfectly.
"She was a little tentative in the finals," added Witman. "She knew what she was up against, but I think if she opened up a little bit, she could have gone deeper into that match, and I think it could have come out a little different."
In 10 of the 13 weight classes, Section IV advanced two girls to States. Holmes' 165-pound weight class was one of them. Unfortunately, for Rylott 94-pounds was not.
Rylott, the second seed at 94 pounds, pinned Elmira's Alexis Collins in 2:10 in the semifinals, but lost via fall in 2:31 to top-seeded Phoebe Bishop of Groton in the finale.
"I'm super-proud of Gianna Rylott ... first of all for making weight. It's the first time she's made this weight all year.
"In the finals, she hung tough with an experienced wrestler," added Witman. "She did great for her first year."
Rylott will be an alternate for the state tournament, and could compete if a qualified wrestler was unable or chose not to compete.
Cochrane, the third seed at 107 pounds, pinned Chenango Forks' Maddy Stoddard in 1:24 in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Cochrane led 6-0, but Horseheads' Lilly Gallo closed the gap to 6-4 before scoring a fall at 2:09.
Cochrane bounced back with a pin of Owego's Ashlee Crawford-Bauer in 1:47 in the consolation semifinals, then decked Dylan Casey of H-BG-S-U in 2:45 in the third-place match.
Vanderhoof, the third seed at 120 pounds, scored a 10-0 technical fall of Groton's Brooke Sovocool in the quarterfinals.
Vanderhoof scored first in her semi-final match with second-seeded Chloe Owen of Horseheads in the semifinals, but Owen dominated the remainder of the bout in a 14-4 technical fall.
Vanderhoof bounced back with a 28-second fall of Oneonta's Jae Rivera in the consolation semifinals, then pinned Ithaca's Rayna Coller in 3:21 in the third-place match.
"The tournament didn't go the way Emma wanted it to. She definitely had a goal of making States," said Witman. "She's tough, and she'll come back stronger next year."
Zieniuk, the third seed at 152 pounds, pinned Oneonta's Grace Cohn in 5:52 in the quarterfinals, but lost via first-period fall to Johnson City's Kiara Davidson in the semifinals.
She bounced back in the consolation semifinals with a pin of H-BG-S-U's Adrianna Tanner in 4:14 in the consolation semifinals, but lost via second-period fall to Chenango Forks' Jillian Howell in the third-place match.
Reedy, the fifth seed at 138 pounds, was 2-2 on the day to finish fifth.
She lost her quarter-final match-up to Tioga's Marcy Moniz via first-period fall, but bounced back in her first wrestleback match with a pin of Owego's Tatum Kowalski in 2:07.
Reedy lost via second-period fall to Forks' Tori Red in the consolation semifinals, but responded with a pin of Deposit-Hancock's Sophie Baudendistel in 2:24 in the fifth-place match.
Junior Sydney Rosenbloom was 2-2 in the 114 pound bracket, while sophomore Abby Sickler was 1-2.
Rosenbloom scored the quickest fall of the day for a Wolverines wrestler in the quarterfinals, decking Horseheads's Harley Ackerman in 15 seconds.
She lost via fall to second-seeded Dallas Bohling of SVEC in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with a second-period pin of Sickler in the second round of the consolation bracket.
Rosenbloom lost in the "blood round" via fall in 1:42 to Elmira's Josalyn Irvin.
Sickler's lone win was in the first round of wrestlebacks, a pin of SVEC's Taylor Zufall in 2:55.
Senior Savannah Savercool was 0-2 at 235 pounds.
The State Championships are Feb. 27 at the MVP Arena in Albany.
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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Elona Holmes. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
