By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports Report
WAVERLY — Freshman Kyah Nelson won her third straight Section IV title, and senior Kali Bailey also punched her ticket to States, while sophomore Amelia Toomey narrowly missed a return trip to States here Saturday at the Section IV Girls Wrestling Championships.
"Kyah (Nelson) is a competitor," said Tioga coach Jim Walsh. "She really hits another level when she steps on the mat.
"A couple really disappointing losses for Kali (Bailey) and Amelia (Toomey). They were both dominating their matches, and got caught.
"Kali will have a chance to redeem herself at States," added Walsh. "Amelia had a great season ... just a tough way for it to end."
For the second year in a row, Bailey and Toomey were both runners-up, and sophomore Marcy Moniz was a third-place finisher.
Tioga, wrestling without two of its regulars, placed seventh in the team standings with 87.5 points. Waverly won the team title with 114.5 points, while Horsheads was second at 109.5, and Oneonta was third at 104.
Nelson, who bumped up a weight class, was the top seed at 185 pounds, and needed 94 seconds to win her title.
In the semifinals, Nelson flattened Corning's Ava Northrup in 20 seconds.
In the finals, Nelson pinned Vestal's Keira DeVantier in 1:14.
Bailey, who also finished fourth as a sophomore, scored a 10-0 technical fall of Elmira's Atlantis Cherry in 20 seconds with a slickly-executed leg vine.
Bailey followed it up with a 44-second pin of Corning's Devon Price in the semifinals.
Bailey led 4-0 in the finals when Deposit-Hancock's Nora Bartholomew caught her with a chin whip for a fall at 1:24.
Section IV had two automatic qualifiers in 10 of the 13 weight classes. Bailey's 132-pound bracket was one of them. Unfortunately for Toomey, the 145-pound weight class was not.
Toomey decked D-H's Brielle Wright in 16 seconds in the quarterfinals, and followed it up with a 10-0 technical fall of Horesheads' Morgan Evans in the semifinals.
In the finals, Toomey jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first minutes, but Chenango Forks' Jansen Derzanovich rallied to take an 8-6 lead.
After Toomey knotted the score at 8-8, scored six more points for a 14-8 lead before finishing off the fall at 4:12.
Moniz, the fourth seed at 138 pounds, pinned Waverly's Abi Reedy in 37 seconds in the quarterfinals, then lost via fall in 59 seconds to top-seeded Delaney Dixon of Windsor.
Moniz bounced back in the consolation semifinals with a 12-0 technical fall of D-H's Sophie Baudenistel, then scored a 12-6 win over Chenango Forks' Tori Reh in the third-place match.
"Again this year, Marcy (Moniz) really picked it up the last few weeks, and got another third-place finish," said Walsh.
Junior Mia Hall was 1-2 at 107 pounds, with her lone win a pin of Oneonta's Caitlyn Thompson in 2:23 in the opening round.
Eighth-grader Grace Howey was 1-2 at 120 pounds, with her lone win a 10-6 decision over Groton's Brooke Sovocool in the second round of wrestlebacks.
Junior Ally Chamberlain was 0-2 at 114 pounds, and freshman Cora Szymanski was 0-2 at 138 pounds.
The New York State Girls Wrestling Championship is Feb. 27 at the MVP Arena in Albany.
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IN PHOTO 1: Tioga's Kyah Nelson. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
