FRANK DIMON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery’s Emily Murphy wrestles Hazleton’s Shanice Brown at the Central Regional girls tournament on Saturday at 124 pounds. Murphy is one of ten Sun-Gazette area girls who qualified for the state tournament.

Throughout the closing weeks of the second PIAA-sanctioned girls wrestling season, the postseason certainly hasn’t disappointed, especially as its finale has drawn closer. With more competition than ever before, the sport is seeing tremendous growth, evident by what we witnessed through regionals.

This year’s rendition of the Central Regional tournament was an exciting one, featuring great matches from start to finish and giving us a glimpse of what we can expect at Hershey come Thursday.

State-title favorites littered the brackets, with over half the brackets featuring one or more wrestlers ranked within the top three in the state.

When the dust settled, ten Sun-Gazette area girls wrestlers had qualified for states, leaving Milton with one week left in their seasons with aspirations of success in Hershey. With that being said, here are a few quick storylines surrounding the event and what’s to come.

FACING THE BEST

Over the past few weeks, Central Mountain senior Kendall Wagner has grown incredibly familiar with Jael Miller, a wrestler who has dominated the scene at 170 pounds since even before the sport was officially sanctioned.

In her four seasons, the Punxsutawney senior has two state titles to her name, coming off a junior season that saw her go 28-0 with 26 pins and finish with her first PIAA championship. That dominance hasn’t died down through her senior campaign, as she heads into states repping 55 straight wins and 26 additional pins.

Including her regional final on Saturday, Wagner has faced her four times this season, seven times in her career, never lasting more than a period against the defending champ.

In most cases, consistently facing a foe like Miller can be demoralizing. But for Wagner, she isn’t fazed, seeing each matchup as an opportunity to improve.

“I like wrestling Jael,” said Wagner. “I think it just helps me get better and makes me a better wrestler.”

With what Wagner has accomplished over the past few weeks, that statement appears accurate.

To clinch her second PIAA bid on Saturday, the senior would have to endure arguably the toughest bracket in the entire event, a bracket which featured five wrestlers ranked in the top eight in the state. In her particular path, No. 7 Abigail Wagner and No. 2 Sierra Ripka – a fellow returning state medalist – stood in her way.

Both bouts required sudden victory to be decided. And in both scenarios, Wagner kept her cool, forcing her opponents into a hole before securing the wrap-around, match-sealing takedown.

Landing on the opposite side of Miller for states, Wagner has serious aspirations to build on last year’s eighth place showing. She’s peaking at the best time and heads into the tournament harboring plenty of confidence.

“My goal is to make it to the final match and just keep working hard like I am,” said Wagner.

She kicks off her run with a matchup against No. 22 Hannah Hornick (Seneca Valley) on Thursday. Joined by teammate Austynn Falls, the Wildcats hope to have two podium finishers come Saturday.

GROWTH

Heading into Saturday, event runners and spectators were expecting a long day, with over 300 matches set to take place within the span of one day while only occupying three mats. However, not many anticipated it to run for over 11 hours.

That wasn’t the fault of event runners, as everything ran smoothly, from the transition of rounds to late event festivities. The culprit instead was the overall competitiveness of the event.

Of the 325 (or 319) matches at the Central Regional, 91 reached a final whistle and 11 required overtime to be decided. That former number more than doubled the one from last year’s event (42), an event which featured 269 matches. Its number of decisions (65) alone trumped that number.

That isn’t coincidental. With more competition within the sport than ever before, its overall skill and competitiveness levels are increasing at a rapid rate, as more girls look to join and the talent continues to develop. That’ll likely only become more evident once the state tournament begins on Thursday.

“I think girls wrestling has really taken off,” said Montgomery freshman Jenna Houseknecht when discussing the event. “When I started, it was growing but really wasn’t as established as it is now. It’s really great to be a part of something and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

It’s an exciting prospect to be a part of, and with more girls getting scholarship opportunities to compete at the next level, there’s more incentive than ever to stand out.

“Considering that when I last wrestled, this sport wasn’t sanctioned for girls, now that it’s sanctioned, people are actually going to look and I would like to wrestle in college,” said Montgomery junior Zoe Furman. “That’s ultimately my goal, just competing with the best.”

There’s still plenty of room for girls wrestling within the state to grow. But with the strides it’s taken so far, its future looks bright.